Former President of Nigeria Olusegun Obasanjo has lamented the high cost of diesel in the country, saying it has adversely affected his fish business.
Obasanjo, who spoke during a southwest fish farmers’ congress on Tuesday at the presidential library (OOPL) in Ogun State, said that fish business has been negatively affected by the rising cost diesel price. He said the high cost may bankrupt fish farmers.
“I am already sweating and if the situation does not go down, anybody that is using diesel, I don’t know your calculation, my calculation is that I cannot produce a kilo of fish with less than N1400. That’s about what it cost as of today. So, if I sell my fish around N1,400 I cannot make a profit,” the ex-President was quoted as saying in a statement by his media aide, Kehinde Akinyemi.
He said selling 1 kilogram of fish less than N1500 will lead to “outright loss.”
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Obasanjo added, “If we don’t come together as an association, nationally, we will sink individually. If we come together, we will swim and survive together,” he said.
“And while we are working on coming together, I thought that the situation has arisen whereby we have to do something urgently.
“The price of diesel has gone sky high because the management of this country is not what it should be. And it is as simple as that.
“Then, what will happen is that particularly those of us who have to use a bit of diesel in producing fish, we will completely go bankrupt, and when that happens, Nigerians will still have to eat fish.”
“And you will go jobless, poor, and indigent. So, what do we have to do? To come together… we want to sustain fish production, and we must be able to take care of those who are going to eat and those of us who are producing.”
According to Obasanjo, fish production would be out of reach, and “then people will be producing fish outside Nigeria and dump it here.”
Investogist recalls that the average retail price of Automotive Gas Oil (Diesel) paid by consumers in Nigeria increased by 202.67% on a year-on-year basis from a lower cost of N242.43 per litre recorded in June 2021 to a higher cost of N733.78 per litre in June 2022, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
According to the report released by NBS, on a month-on-month basis, an increase of 9.34% was recorded from N671.08 in May 2022 to an average of N733.78 in June 2022.
Ifunanya Ikueze is an Engineer, Safety Professional, Writer, Investor, Entrepreneur and Educator.
