Civil Society Groups flooded major streets in Benin City, Edo State on Monday, to protest the recent increase in price of petrol and nationwide hardship.
The groups under the aegis of the Edo Civil Society Organisations lamented the high cost of governance exhibited by politicians, at the expense of the poor Nigerians.
According to the groups, the federal government ought to have provided palliatives that would cushion the pangs of fuel subsidy removal before implementing it.
Recall that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, last Tuesday, increased the prices of petrol to N617 per litre in Abuja, while other places like Lagos are selling at N550 above.
In his inaugural speech, President Bola Tinubu had declared an end to subsidy of fuel, and this jerked the litre of petrol from N197 to above N500 across the country.
Tinubu, in his bid to ameliorate the sufferings of Nigerians, proposed to give N8,000 to 12 million households for six months, a measure that was suspended over a barrage of criticisms.
Reacting to all of these, the protesters took to the streets in Edo, carrying several placards bearing different captions like ‘FG Fix Our Refineries’, ‘Kill Corruption, not Nigerians’, ‘Poor Nigerians Lives Matter’, ‘We Say No To Constant Increment In PMS’, ‘How Did NNPCL Become Fuel Price Requlator’ ‘N8,000 Palliatives, and ‘What An Insult’ among others.
Nigerians are faced with hardship currently as the increment in the prices of petrol has adversely affected the cost of living including transportation, food, and other goods and services.