‘There’s A Limit To What Nigerians Can Tolerate’ – NLC Rejects Petrol Price Hike, Calls For Reversal

By Edna Wande On Nov 16, 2020

Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has demanded the immediate reversal of the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol.

It would be recalled that Federal Government announced a new pump price band for petroleum products, raising the ex-depot price of petrol to N155.17, making marketers sell between N165 and N173 per litre to consumers.

In a statement on Monday by the NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, the union took a swipe at the government and condemned the increase in the price of the product.

It stated that the recent hike in petrol pump price has worsened the level of pain and anguish in the country.

According to NLC, it is worrisome to make Nigerians continue to suffer for the failures of successive governments to properly manage the nation’s refineries.

It added that the development has questioned the explanations made by the government on the payment of subsidy.

The union insisted that the nation would not have been in its present position if the government had been alive to its responsibilities.

It warned that Nigerians have a limit to tolerate the continued increase in the price of refined petroleum products and other essential goods and services.

On the way forward, the NLC asked the government to fix the nation’s refineries, stressing that several options were available to tackle the trend of high prices of refined petroleum products.

Among other recommendations, it asked the government to declare a state of emergency in the downstream petroleum sector and seal refining deals with refineries closer to Nigeria.

The union was, however, silent on what action it would take if the increased price was not reversed.

The statement partly reads;

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.

While we await the full recovery of our refineries as contained in our agreement with the government, Nigerians cannot 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 our 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 the 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 the government to stem the tide of high prices of refined petroleum products.

One is for the government to declare a state of emergency in our downstream petroleum sector. As a follow up to this, the government should enter into contract refining with refineries closer home to Nigeria. This will ensure that the cost of supplying crude oil is negotiated away from the 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 the 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.

We also demand that Nigerians should be carried along on the distribution of refined petroleum products. Information on the distribution of petroleum products to petrol stations should be advertised and made public knowledge.

It should not be difficult to establish the average time it takes a petrol station to exhaust its supplies. There is already an established market trend which will help the government fix the rot in Nigeria’s downstream petroleum sector.

Second, we call on the 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 subsector. 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 the monopoly of Nigeria’s downstream petroleum sector or the emergence of a cartel of Oligarchs whose end game is mass pauperization.

Third, in line with our recent agreement with the 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 a 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.