The Umuahia Chamber of Commerce,Mines and Agriculture (UCCIMA), has decried the recent hike in the pump price of petrol from #148 to #151.56 per litre, calling on the Federal Government to reverse the price immediately,as the increment is not best for Nigerians at this time.
UCCIMA who spoke through its President,Chief Chidi Nkem- Aruoma, said the recent hike in Petrol products,is totally wrong at this time Nigerians are battling with the adverse effects of the Covid 19 pandemic.
According to Aruoma, the deadly coronavirus, caused the country to experience a number of workforce retrenchments in various fields, worst hit is the Small and Medium Scale Enterprises, SMEs, where businesses have packed up due to the unavailability of fund to withstand the covid 19 era.
He passionately appealed to the government to encourage the growth and success of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), because it is the foundation through which any economy can thrive.
While decrying that the rising fuel cost will have a negative impact on SMEs, since most micro-entreprises are dependent on generating sets and hired transports to fetch items from wholesalers, pointing out that the recent hike in fuel pump price will reduce competitiveness of small businesses and entrepreneurs must make a series of decisions to sustain their business model, because fuel cost impacts their supply and overhead expenses.
The UCCIMA boss further decried that the hike will put pressure on small businesses because their little gains will most certainly be diluted by the fuel price hike, adding that small businesses will have to keep a firm grip on the management of their resources to get through this period.
He, however, expressed shock why our leaders would make such a decision,now that the world is yet to recover from the adverse economic effects of covid 19 and while other progressive Governments are issuing reliefs and subsidies to their economies, ours is stiffening us with outrageous policies.
Aruoma, further maintained that if our leaders truly claim they are working for us,they would have consulted the opinions of Nigerians on how the move would benefit them before increasing,adding that the leaders are deliberately plunging the nation into higher poverty level, by increasing tax burden on the citizenry, without improving their income.
