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By Obas Esiedesa
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has expressed dissatisfaction with the increase in the pump price of petrol from N121 to N143.80 by the Petroleum Products Price Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) on Wednesday.
The NLC President, Mr Ayuba Wabba, in a statement on Thursday urged the Federal Government to revert to the old price, accusing the PPPRA management of by-passing its board and the supervising ministry in reaching the decision.
He said: “We demand that the Federal Government reverts to the old price of petroleum.
“Especially, given the fact that price of crude oil in the international market has only slightly increased from the previous price before the so-called downward review was announced two months ago.
“We also renew our call for a national conversation on the management of our oil assets which we insist must be in tandem with the provisions of our country’s constitution.
“The constitution clearly mandates that the commanding heights of our national economy must be held by the government in the interest of the citizens of Nigeria.
“We demand that our four national petroleum refineries must be fixed without any further delay.
“Nigerian workers want to be apprised of the timeline set by the government to ensure that this is effectively done.
“It is even worse that this is coming at a time when our people are living on the precipice of the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.
The Federal Government had on March 19, 2020, announced that it would no longer pay subsidy on petrol due largely to drastic drop in its revenue.
PPPRA disclosed then that the downstream sector of the petroleum industry has been deregulated with marketers fixing the price of petrol. It however said it would release a price band for each month at the beginning of every month.
Since March the price has been reduced thrice as crude oil price fell at the international market. But in the last two months oil price has inched up from the lows in March to about $40 per barrel.
This with the fall in the value of the Naira led to the pump price increase.
But Mr. Wabba is not impressed and has described the move as mischievous and deceitful.
“Just as the lockdown is being eased out and as soon as the inter-state travel ban was lifted, the government decided to hike the petrol price.
“Nigerian people and workers are forced to interpret this move as grand mischief and deceit. It is clear even to the blind that the crisis in our downstream petroleum sub-sector is self, nay government,-inflicted.
“The refusal by successive governments to fix our national oil refineries is at the root of this problem,” he said.
Checks at petrol stations across Abuja on Thursday showed that most have adjusted their meters to reflect the new price in less than 24 hours despite having old stock bought at cheaper ex-depot rate.
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