NLC reacts to latest hike in petrol price

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has expressed dismay over the latest increase of prices of petrol across the country.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that the petrol pump prices rose to N998 and N1,030 per litre on Wednesday at various outlets of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) in Lagos and Abuja, respectively.

The recent development comes after the NNPC decided to terminate its exclusive purchase agreement with Dangote Refinery.

Reacting, NLC, one of Nigeria’s two major labour associations, said that the latest wave of increase has grossly altered the expectations of Nigerians at a time they were reluctantly coming to terms with their new realities.

Joe Ajaero, NLC president, said this in Abuja in a statement titled, ‘What next after the increase in pump price?’ on Wednesday.

“It looks like the only thing this government is known for is an increase in the pump price of petrol without commensurate capacity of Nigerians or mitigatory measures.

“Even following the logic of market forces, we find it an aberration that a private company (NNPCL) is the one fixing prices and projecting itself as a hegemonic monopoly,” parts of the statement shared with this newspaper stated.

According to Mr Ajaero, the hike was intended to make people more uncomfortable as previous hikes did not yield any positive results.

He called on the government to reverse the decision, saying it tends to make more production capacities dip and lead to more job losses with multidimensional negative effects.

“We challenge the government to go to the drawing board and present us with a blueprint for an inclusive economic growth and national development instead of this spasmodic ad hocism and palliative policy.

“But more fundamentally, the government should be bold enough to tell Nigerians in advance the destination it wants to take the country,” he said.

Background

The NNPC announced in September that it was buying petrol from Dangote Refinery at N898.78 per litre and selling to marketers at N765.99 per litre, shouldering a subsidy of almost N133 per litre.

Meanwhile, it said this arrangement is no longer sustainable.

Sources close to the matter told PREMIUM TIMES on Monday that NNPC is now set to withdraw as the sole off-taker to allow other marketers to directly purchase petrol from Dangote Refinery at the prevailing market price, promoting competition and potentially stabilising supply chains.

As the NNPC is ending its exclusive purchase agreement with the Dangote Refinery, this means the NNPC will no longer be the sole off-taker, and marketers can now negotiate prices directly with the refinery.