The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has advised the Federal Government to urgently provide sustainable palliatives in order to rescue Nigerians from the latest hike in petrol price, saying it is not a crime for government to subsidize the needs of citizens, especially in emergency situations.
Its President, Joe Ajaero, conveyed this in a statement on Wednesday titled “SAVE THE SITUATION NOW”, where he criticizef the skyrocketing price of petrol which is almost N1,500 per litre in major cities in Nigeria.
He lamented that the hike has caused untold damage to wages and the well-being of Nigerians.
“When transportation costs go up, everything else follows, including school fees, rents, tariffs, food stuff, etc,” Ajaero said.
According to him, the fuel hike comes at a time when pressure on marketers to reduce prices to reflect crude prices was beginning to yield results.
He maintained that the country’s situation should not be this bleak on account of the resurgence of conflict in the Gulf.
“As a nation, and as a people endowed with enormous fossil resources, we are deserving of a certain level of protection or buffer against the gales from the Gulf,” he added.
Commenting on the palliatives required, he implored government to consider reasonable wage awards to workers; sell sufficient crude in naira to the country’s local refineries; and expand its national storage capacity in pursuance of meeting energy emergencies and guaranteeing energy security.
“There is no known oil-producing country that has not intervened or come up with sustainable palliatives in one way or the other in these perilous times,” he said.
He noted that government is making extra money from the crisis, earning between USD35 and 40 per barrel above the budgeted figure, which he said translates to trillions of naira a month.
He maintained that government should be satisfied with the earning as it is a windfall.
Faulting local refineries for importing crude, Ajaero said: “This is unreasonable and unacceptable and defeats the logic and purpose of local capacity. A government that seeks re-election in the next few months cannot afford to stand and watch marketers inflict suffering on the citizenry in the name of deregulation.”