Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has rejected the increase in fuel price from N123 to N143 and asked that it is reversed to the old price with immediate effect.
In a statement made by the NLC’s president, Ayuba Wabba, in Abuja, he said that the Nigerian people and workers are forced to interpret the government’s decision taken at a time that the lockdown was being eased and inter-state travel ban lifted as grand mischief and deceit.
Mr Wabba noted that Nigerians have groaned to pay these unjust costs for years, he strongly warned that this latest increase might just be the last straw that would break the camel’s back.
He, however, called on the federal government to immediately revert to the old order especially given the fact that price of crude oil in the international market has only slightly increased from the previous one before the so-called downward review was announced two months ago.
According to the NLC President “It was with great shock and consternation that the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) received yesterday’s news of the increase in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit commonly called ‘petrol’ from N121 to N143.
Read also: PPPRA increases petrol pump price to N143.80
“There is no way Nigerians would accept a situation where we are charged international rates for a product which Nigeria is the sixth-largest producer in the world.
The extra costs that the PPPRA wants Nigerians to pay in order to promote “growth” and “investment” are actually the cost of profits made by countries that we ship our crude oil to, the cost of sea freight of the refined products, the cost of demurrage at our seaports when the refined products arrive, the cost of the frequent devaluation of our national currency, and the cost of official corruption by gatekeepers managing the downstream petroleum sub-sector.
“We 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.
“We also renew our call for a national conversation on the management of our oil assets which we insist must be in tandem with the provisions our country’s constitution which clearly mandates that the commanding heights of our national economy must be held by the government in the interest of the citizens of Nigeria. Finally, we demand that our four national petroleum refineries must be fixed without any further delay.
Similarly, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has rejected the increase in fuel price from N123 to N143.80 per litre by the Federal Government, describing it as a punishment to Nigerians, given the prevailing economic hardship foisted on the country by the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration.
The party described the hike, despite the declining price of crude oil in the international market, as grossly unjustifiable and further exposes the insincerity of the APC and its administration.
The PDP noted that in directing a fuel price increase at the time Nigerians are facing the economic and social trauma of the COVID-19 pandemic, the President Muhammadu Buhari-led APC administration shows a total lack of human feelings to the plights of our citizens.
The party spokesperson, Kola Ologbondiyan, asked the APC-led Federal Government to present to Nigerians, the indices and parameters it used to determine the price increase.
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