By Bisola Adeyemo
Based on the current economic realities and the extreme hardship in Nigeria, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), has opposed the proposal by the Nigerian Governors Forum that petrol pump prices should be fixed at between N380 and N408 per litre.
The statement signed by the NLC President, Ayuba Wabba; and the acting General Secretary, Ismail Bello and made available to journalists in Abuja on Thursday, reiterated that the congress still stands solidly by its decision taken at its meeting on February 17, 2021, to reject further increases in the price of refined petroleum products.
According to the Punch, the NEC also re-echoed its decision that the only sustainable way out of the crisis of fuel importation and associated dislocations in the downstream petroleum subsector was for the government to rehabilitate all four public refineries in the country and build new ones.
The NLC said there is currently no negotiation with the government over fuel price increase, adding that the last meeting with the government in February 2021 was adjourned indefinitely.
According to a communiqué issued by the National Executive Committee of the NLC after its meeting in Abuja on Tuesday, the NEC-in-Session also viewed the proposal by the Nigeria Governors Forum for a three hundred per cent increase in the price of petrol as the height of provocation, arbitrariness, detachment and insensitivity to the current economic realities in the country and the extreme hardship that Nigerians, especially workers are going through.
“The NEC also noted that there is currently no negotiation with government over fuel price increase. The NEC recalled that the last meeting with government in February 2021 was adjourned sine die. Since then, no other meeting has been called by government.
“The NEC resolved that any decision to increase by even one cent the price of refined petroleum products, especially PMS will attract an immediate withdrawal of services by Nigerian workers all over the country without any further notice.”