The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has condemned the increase in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit(PMS) commonly called ‘petrol’ from N121 to N143, by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency(PPPRA).
This is just as it demand that the Federal Government reverts to the old price of petroleum, especially given the fact that price of crude oil in the international market has only slightly increased from the previous price before the ‘so-called’ downward review was announced two months ago.
In a statement on Thursday, the NLC President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, said that there is no way Nigerians would accept a situation where they are charged international rates for a product which Nigeria is the sixth largest producer in the world.
Recall that the increase of PMS was reported to be consequent upon a “monthly review meeting” by the Petroleum Products Price Regulatory Agency (PPPRA).
Wabba, however, noted that the PPPRA in its statement by the Executive Secretary, Saidu Abdulkadir contradicted itself when it said that the latest price increase described as an “advisory” was meant to regulate a product that government claims had been de-regulated.
According to him, “That this new hike in the pump price of petrol was announced without the approval of the board of the PPPRA and the oversight ministry speaks volume of the arbitrariness and public contempt in the operations of PPPRA. We find this deeply disturbing.
“It is also very embarrassing that the PPPRA boss while trying to defend the indefensible appeared to be out of sorts and ready to clutch at any available straws to sell his ‘ice block merchandise’ to ‘Eskimos'” Wabba said.
He further said that, “Nigerians would recall that the last downward review in the price of petrol was at the beginning of the Covid-19 lockdown. The economic benefits of the so-called “downward” review was hardly enjoyed by ordinary Nigerians who were mostly indoors.
“Just as the lockdown is being eased out and as soon as the inter-state travel ban was lifted, the government decided to hike petrol price. Nigerian people and workers are forced to interpret this move as grand mischief and deceit.
“It is clear even to the blind that the crisis in our downstream petroleum sub-sector is ‘self’ nay “government-inflicted”. The refusal by successive governments to fix our national oil refineries is at the root of this problem. Government simply wants to transfer the cost of its own inefficiencies to the Nigerian people. Nigerian workers say “No” to such.
“Finally, we demand that our four national petroleum refineries must be fixed without any further delay. Nigerian workers want to be appraised of the timeline set by government to ensure that this is effectively done.
“Nigeria belongs to all of us. Workers are major stakeholders in the Nigerian project. Nigerian workers and people must not only be treated fairly but must be seen to have been so treated by their government”, he stated.
