The #EndBadGovernance Movement, Lagos State, has stated that President Bola Tinubu is not finished punishing the people, describing the recent petrol price hike as provocative and a further slap in the face of poor and struggling Nigerians.

The movement remarked in a statement on Thursday, while reacting to reports that the National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, has commenced full deregulation of the downstream sector by increasing petrol price to between N998 per litre in Lagos and N1,030 per litre in Abuja and other parts of the country.

According to the statement by the Organising Committee, #Endbadgovernance Movement, Lagos State, jointly signed by the Coordinator, Hassan Taiwo, alias, “Soweto,” Osugba Blessing and Oloye Adegboyega-Adeniji, read in part: “This latest increase is the second of such in a month, and it is bound to drive the Nigerian people, including workers, youth, artisans, traders and the mass of the people, into a worse state of starvation and hardship.

“We hereby demand an immediate and unconditional reversal of the hike, as well as the return of petrol price, electricity tariffs and food prices to pre-May 29, 2023 levels.

“As far as we are concerned, this development is a clear indication that President Tinubu is neither prepared for dialogue nor is he ready to reduce the burden of hunger and excruciating hardship that hapless Nigerian masses have been bearing since last year when he came to power.

“To this extent, we call on the Nigerian people to rise in their millions to begin to confront this government with protests and demonstrations until the criminal hike, along with other anti-poor policies are reversed.

“Without our readiness to fight, it is crystal clear that this regime is hell-bent on driving all of us into a state of starvation. We hereby urge all pro-people civil society organisations, NGOs, youth groups, students’ unions, socialist organisations and community associations to begin to meet to discuss how to respond to this latest onslaught.

“We also call on the leadership of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) to immediately call a 48-hour general strike and mass protest.

“That this increase is coming at a time when the Dangote refinery has become fully operational has exposed the lie that the government told last year to justify the policy of fuel subsidy removal. At that time, the Tinubu government said once the Dangote refinery began to produce petroleum products, the price would crash.

“Now the opposite is what we see today. This demonstrates that privatization, deregulation and other neo-liberal capitalist policies do not offer solutions to the economic crisis facing Nigeria.

“We hereby demand reversal of the policies of privatization, deregulation and all neo-liberal and anti-poor capitalist policies.

“We also note that the unrelenting onslaught on the Nigerian people by President Tinubu shows why the struggle to #Endbadgovernance in Nigeria must continue, and hereby urge Nigerian youth, workers and the poor masses to join the growing movement to end bad governance in Nigeria,” the group said. (Vanguard)