A Niger Delta rights activist, Israel Joe, has asked the Federal Government not to make real its proposed plan to increase prices of petroleum products by February this year.
He warned that civil society organisations would not hesitate to shut down Nigeria if the Federal Government went ahead with such plan.
Joe, who stated this in a statement in Warri, said Nigerians would no longer tolerate the hardship brought upon them by the present regime at the centre.
He said, “Nigerians will no longer tolerate the hardship brought upon us by this government. We listened gleefully to the speech of the President and it wasn’t clear if the subsidy would be removed or not.
“However, we have got from reliable source that the Federal Government of Nigeria planned to remove subsidy on petrol products towards the end of February.
“Let it be on record that the Federal Government of Nigeria has not put forth any superior logical argument about the advantages of removing subsidy, as it has never reflected on the lives of average Nigerians, but inflicting suffering, pains, insecurity and stress on them.
“It is pertinent to inform the general public that we will shut down Nigeria the moment the Federal Government announces any hike in petroleum products. The civil society organisations in Delta State will meet to take a decision on this, but I can say conveniently and confidently that we will shut down the economy and Delta State will never play a second fiddle in the struggle.”
