NLC president condemns fuel price hike

The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Joe Ajaero, has condemned the fuel pump price increase by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, noting that a registered private company should not dictate fuel prices for Nigerians.

PUNCH Online earlier reported that the NNPC raised the retail price of petrol to N1,030 from N897 per litre, across some of its retail outlets in the FCT. The new price, being the second increase in one month, after it earlier increased prices from N617/litre to N897/litre in September, represents a 14.8 per cent or N133 rise.

Addressing the development, the NLC President also faulted the President Bola Tinubu-led administration for failing to implement its Compressed Natural Gas initiative over a year after its inauguration, noting that the Port Harcourt refinery was yet to begin operations despite agreements between the federal government, the NLC, and the Trade Union Congress.

Ajaero made the comments during his address at the Launch of a book titled “The Tripartite: Understanding the Interplay between Workers, Employers and Government”, written by Sharon Ijasan, in Abuja on Wednesday.

“As we are sitting down here, they have gone to increase pump price of petroleum again. Now what do you do in such instances? They expect us to buy it. Even things we have been asking for, CNG as an alternative, for more than one year, we have been asking for the commencement of work at the Port Harcourt refinery, we had an agreement to that effect – NLC, TUC, and the federal government.

“We have heard that Dangote Refinery is producing locally and prices are going up. All the indices they gave to us about the need to deregulate, have proven negative. You are fixing prices as a private company. As far as I’m concerned, except something has happened to CAC, NNPCL is now a private company. Can that same NNPCL dictate the price for Dangote and other private companies? Those are issues, those are questions begging for answers”.

“And all these discussions are hovering around the N70,000 minimum wage. What is the level of inflation between the time we signed the N70,000 minimum wage and now? Those are the issues that will bother us for the next few days in this country”, he said.

Ajaero also called for collective action to protest the hike stating that, “Nigerians are expecting the labour movement to react to this hike. If we can get some naira or are unable to get it, only workers will benefit from that. What I think Nigerians should do is to mobilise and react as a collective”

Speaking to pressmen, Ajaero also asked the National Assembly to clarify the coverage of the N70,000 minimum wage, noting that while they had agreed on the amount to be paid, and the review period of the minimum wage, there was still a white paper on the coverage.