The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) says the increase in petrol price is in violation of all agreements the union had with the Federal Government.
This is contained in a statement jointly signed by TUC’s President, Comrade Quadri Olaleye and its Secretary-General, Comrade Musa-Lawal Ozigi, yesterday in Lagos.
The statement noted that in spite of efforts made by the organised labour in its last meeting with government over hike in fuel price and electricity tariff, it had resolved to further impoverish Nigerians with the recent increase.
“We recall that at our meeting, the government appealed that subsidy removal was the only way out, else the economy will collapse and there will be massive job losses.
“We agreed with them to save the economy and jobs.
“If the government claims to have deregulated the downstream sector of the oil and gas by removing fuel subsidy, it means the independent oil marketers are importing petrol at their own cost.
“Information at our disposal, however, is that no independent marketer is importing fuel because they cannot access dollars.
“The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporations (NNPC) is still holding on to that monopoly,” the duo said.
Both leaders expressed disappointment that the government had again reneged on the agreement reached with the organised labour sometime in September.
The duo said, “In few days, the various committees involving government and the organised labour will brief labour and the civil society and the outcome of that meeting will determine our next line of action.’’
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has broken its silence on the 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, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, said there was no doubt that there was 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 increase in the price of refined petroleum products and other essential goods and services continues. 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.”