CICAN Chairman, Charles Okonji
.Advises govt to consult OPS, MSMEs, others on economic issues
‘CICAN described the latest price hike as a pain too much to bear by the masses’
By Valentine Amanze
The Commerce and Industry Correspondents Association of Nigeria (CICAN) has joined other organisations and individuals in condemning the Federal Government for inflicting more hardship on Nigerians with another increase on the price of Premium Motor Spirit (pns) popularly called petrol.
At the inception of his administration of May 29, 2029, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu thanked his supporters with petroleum subsidy withdrawal and subsequently raised the fuel price from N159 per litre to between N500 and N615; and two weeks later, he took it to between N650 to N713.
In a statement issued by the National Chairman, Mr Charles Okonji, and the Secretary, Mrs Lucy Ekpeyong, on Wednesday, CICAN described the latest price hike as a pain too much to bear by the masses, wondering why the Tinubu-administration did not consult the Organised Private Sector before taking decisions on palliative measures.
Also read: Photo: MAN donates computer to CICAN
CICAN also lamented that the fuel price hike has affected the movement and prices of goods and services, stressing that workers now hardly go to work because of high cost of transportation.
While urging the government to ameliorate the situation, CICAN further lamented that people now find it very difficult to even feed twice daily.
“The recent PMS price hike as a result of subsidy removal has pushed up the prices of goods and services beyond the reach of ordinary people.
“Most of our people are unable to get to their places of work to carryout their daily business. This will further drive majority of people into deeper poverty.
“We, on behalf of the Nigerian masses, plead with the Federal Government to quickly rollout the palliative it has in the pipeline to ameliorate the serious pains and hardship our people have been subjected to since May 30th, 2023,” it stated.
The CICAN also pointed out that while being delighted about the promise by the federal government to increase salaries of workers, the government should realise that more than 70 percent of the youths were either unemployed or were not under the government employment.
“We want to remind the government that the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reports have it that over 50 percent of our youths are unemployed.
“We also want to inform the government that most of the private companies in particular and the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in general will not be able to increase their workers salaries.
“We, therefore, make bold to say that most of our people who work in the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and many private establishments including many media houses that have not been able to pay the peanuts for months will not consider the idea of salaries increase for their workers,” it stated.
CICAN however reminded the government that once it announced any salary increase, landlords, transporters and traders will also increase the prices of their products or services, thereby making the salary increment useless.
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