waving the union’s flags.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has demanded the
immediate reversal of the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS),
also known as petrol.
In a statement on Monday by the NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, the
union took a swipe at the government and condemned the increase in
the price of the product.
It stated that the recent hike in petrol pump price has worsened
the level of pain and anguish in the country.
According to the NLC, it is worrisome to make Nigerians continue
to suffer for the failures of successive governments to properly
manage the nation’s refineries.
It added that the development has questioned the explanations
made by the government on the payment of subsidy.
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The union insisted that the nation would not have been in its
present position if the government had been alive to its
responsibilities.
It warned that Nigerians have a limit to tolerate the continued
increase in the price of refined petroleum products and other
essential goods and services.
On the way forward, the NLC asked the government to fix the
nation’s refineries, stressing that several options were available
to tackle the trend of high prices of refined petroleum
products.
Among other recommendations, it asked the government to declare
a state of emergency in the downstream petroleum sector and seal
refining deals with refineries closer to Nigeria.
filling the fuel tank of a car.
The union was, however, silent on what action it would take if
the increased price was not reversed.
The Federal Government had announced a new pump price band for
petroleum products, raising the ex-depot price of petrol to
N155.17, making marketers sell between N165 and N173 per litre to
consumers.
Read the full statement by the NLC below:
THE NIGERIA LABOUR CONGRESS CONDEMNS AND REJECTS THE RECENT
INCREASE IN THE PRICE OF PETROL (PREMIUM MOTOR SPIRIT)There is no doubt that there is great disquiet in the land over
the extraordinary level of inflation in the country. The recent
increase in the pump price of the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) has
only exacerbated the current level of pain and anguish in the
country.The recent increase in the pump price of PMS is clearly against
the spirit and content of what Organized Labour agreed with
government at the last negotiations over the last fuel price
increase.It has also cast in very bad light our utmost good faith with
regards to government explanations that it lacks funds to continue
bankrolling the so-called subsidy payments as such would sooner
than later cripple the entire economy, throw the country into
severe economic crisis and cause loss of jobs in millions.While we await the full recovery of our refineries as contained
in our agreement with government, Nigerians cannot be made to bleed
endlessly for the failures of successive government to properly
manage our refineries, ensure value for money for the numerous Turn
Around Maintenance (TAM) which were poorly and barely executed and
the horrifying lack of interest in prosecuting public officials and
private business people who have profited from the rot in our
petroleum sector and the collective misery they have imposed on the
general population.The truth is that we would not have been in this precarious
situation if government had been alive to its responsibilities.
There is a limit to what the citizens can tolerate if this abysmal
increases in the price of refined petroleum products and other
essential goods and services continue.
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});While we fix our refineries, there are a number of options open
to government to stem the tide of high prices of refined petroleum
products. One is for government to declare a state of emergency in
our downstream petroleum sector. As a follow up to this, government
should enter into contract refining with refineries closer home to
Nigeria.This will ensure that the cost of supplying of crude oil is
negotiated away from prevailing international market rate so that
the landing cost of refined petroleum products is significantly
reduced.Government should also demonstrate the will to stamp out the
smuggling of petroleum products out of Nigeria. We need to see
big-time petroleum smugglers arraigned in the court of law and made
to pay for their crimes against the Nigerian people. Government has
the resources available to it to ensure this economic justice to
Nigerians.The question in the minds of many Nigerians is if government is
willing to go headlong against major financiers of the major
political parties known to the public as the architects of the
current national woe.We also demand that Nigerians should be carried along on the
distribution of refined petroleum products. Information of the
distribution of petroleum products to petrol stations should be
advertised and made public knowledge.It should not be difficult to establish the average time it
takes a petrol station to exhaust its supplies. There is already an
established market trend which will help government fix the rot in
Nigeria’s downstream petroleum sector.Second, we call on government to review the entire process of
licensing for modular and bigger refineries. It is queer to depend
on the enterprise of one man to fix Nigeria’s downstream petroleum
subsector. The more public and private refineries in play, the
higher the competition.This would serve end consumers who would benefit from lower
prices. Organized Labour will not accept a fait accompli of the
monopoly of Nigeria’s downstream petroleum sector or the emergence
of a cartel of Oligarchs whose end game is mass pauperisation.Third, in line with our recent agreement with government, we
will be receiving updates in the next few days from our unions in
the petroleum sector which have been given the mandate to keep
surveillance on government promise to overhaul our public
refineries.We will also receive updates from our representatives in the
electricity review committee. The updates we receive will determine
whether the government has kept to its side of the bargain which is
to take serious steps to recover and reposition our public
refineries.The outcome of this engagement will determine our response in
the coming days. But while we are at that, we condemn the recent
price increase, and we call for its reversal with immediate
effect.Comrade Ayuba Wabba, mni
President
16th November 2020