Union Urges FG To Reconstitute PPPRA Board

The Nigeria Labour Con
gress (NLC) has urged the federal government to immediately reconstitute the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) board to formulate proper template to regulate petroleum pricing in the country.
A statement issued in Lagos by the union on Wednesday and signed by its National President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba said the price of petroleum products cannot be left to be determined by market forces.
Wabba said that the federal government has the responsibility through the PPPRA law to fix prices  for petroleum products, stressing that price has to be controlled by the regulatory authority due to its security importance to the nation.
He said the constitution of the board by the federal government was long overdue, stressing that NLC is a strategic stakeholder that must make its meaningful contribution to decisions on how to formulate  a new template for petrol prices in the country.
The NLC boss said that the federal government has deliberately refused to reconstitute the PPPRA board and as a result some persons have been emboldened to take law into their hands making a lot of things to go wrong.
The statement explained that by law, the NLC is a member of the PPPRA board and it is that board that is supposed to look at the template and even fix the prices.
He alleged that subsidy on kerosene was removed as stated by government even without any consultation with critical stakeholders and queried the current template being used by PPPRA to fix the price even when subsidy has been removed.
Wabba emphasized that Nigerians need to assist the present government to properly come up with policies that would benefit Nigerians rather than policies imposed by those the leader described as “powerful nations” for the benefit of their interest.
He urged the government to refine petroleum products locally with a view to attending to the needs of Nigerians and the economy.