-Pix above: PBAT and organized labour
The leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has berated President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for betraying the Nigerian workers and by extension all Nigerians with the fresh hike in petrol price and its scarcity across the country.
The State Online reported earlier that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has increased the pump price of petrol from ₦568 to ₦855, ₦897 (depending on the location per litre) amidst lingering fuel scarcity and the country’s crisis.
The hike in pump price came after NNPCL said it owed its suppliers more than $6bn in debt.
While the report from Abuja said price was jerked up to ₦897 per litre, our correspondent in Lagos said NNPC station on Awolowo Road in Lagos increased price to ₦855 per litre.
Other marketers have since jerked up prices too following NNPCL’s price adjustment, with over 30 per cent increments reported, to around ₦897 per litre.
Reports earlier revealed a hike in the ex-depot price of the product to ₦754 per litre.
Speculations revealed the price was reviewed upward to reflect the global price and to reduce the debt burden on NNPCL.
Meanwhile, the NNPC spokesman, Femi Soneye, denied any adjustments in prices, stressing that the old price remains.
Earlier, the Federal Government also denied reports that it directed NNPCL to peg fuel prices at ₦1,000 per litre.
“The Federal Government is compelled to address the outright falsehoods currently being circulated on social media, which claim that the Minister of Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, has directed the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited to inflate petroleum prices above the approved pump price,” said a Tuesday statement by Nneamaka Okafor, Special Adviser, Media and Communication, to the Minister for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri.
However, reacting to the development, Joe Ajaero, the NLC president described the situation as “traumatic and nightmarish”.
The labour leader recalled that Tinubu had told both NLC and TUC leadership during the negotiation of minimum wage to pick between N250,000 and increase in price of fuel or accept N70,000 and allow the price of fuel remain the same.
Ajaero, who further lampooned the government for the situation, said instead of ensuring the promised reversal, the rate has since been jacked up further, adding that it is already putting more Nigerians and businesses in jeopardy.
He said, “We recall vividly when Mr President gave us the devil’s alternatives to choose from: either N250,000 as minimum wage (subject to the rise of the pump price between N1,500 and N2,000) and N70,000 (at old PMS rates), we opted for the latter because we could not bring ourselves to accept further punishment on Nigerians.
“But here we are, barely one month after and with government yet to commence payment of the new national minimum wage, confronted by a reality we cannot explain. It is both traumatic and nightmarish.
“Yet, when we told government that it’s approach to resolving the fuel subsidy contradictions was patently faulty and would not last, it’s front row cheer leaders sneered at us, saying we did not understand basic economics.
“But if truth be told, this act of betrayal is consistent with the character of this government. We recall the assurances we were given by the leadership of the National Assembly on the 250% tariff hike, that it had been dealt with and there was no need to openly engage the Minister of Power who was at that meeting.
“Instead of the promised reversal, the rate has since been jerked up further putting more Nigerians and businesses in jeopardy. The combined effects of government’s ferocious right -wing market policies brought Nigerians and Nigeria to their all-time low and led to the End-Hunger/End Bad Governance protests.” (agency)///
