The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, on Monday broke its
silence on recent hike in fuel price by the Federal Government, rejecting the
move and called for immediate reversal.
The Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), a
subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), recently increased
depot prices of petrol, directing marketers to sell the product to end users at
between N167 to N170 per litre.
The NLC, in a statement issued by its National President,
Ayuba Wabba said 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,” he said.
Wabba said while the NLC awaited the full recovery of the
nation’s refineries as contained in its agreement with government, Nigerians
could not 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 the 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.
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,” Wabba added.
He said the NLC also demanded that Nigerians should be
carried along on the distribution of refined petroleum products, saying
Information of the distribution of petroleum products to petrol stations should
be advertised and made public knowledge.
The NLC president said it should not be difficult to
establish the average time it takes a petrol station to exhaust its supplies
and that there is already an established market trend which would help
government fix the rot in Nigeria’s downstream petroleum sector.
“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 sub-sector.
“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 monopoly of
Nigeria’s downstream petroleum sector or the emergence of a cartel of Oligarchs
whose end game is mass pauperization.
“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,” Wabba stated.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com