The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to take immediate measures to cushion Nigerians from the latest surge in petrol pump prices, warning that the government cannot afford to remain passive while rising fuel costs deepen hardship across the country.
The NLC said the price of petrol had risen to about N1,430 per litre in major urban centres where the product was readily available, with prices reportedly higher in less accessible areas.
In a statement on Wednesday, the NLC President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, said the development had inflicted “incalculable damage” on workers’ wages and the general living conditions of Nigerians.
“We are seriously concerned by the rising cost of the pump price of petrol across the country. In mega urban cities where petrol is readily available, the cost ranges from N1,430. In less accessible areas, the cost is much worse.
“This has inflicted incalculable damage to not only wages but our state of being as a people and as a nation,” Ajaero said.
He warned that the increase in transportation costs would continue to drive up the prices of essential goods and services, further eroding household incomes.
“It is an established fact that when transportation costs go up, everything else follows, including school fees, rents, tariffs, foodstuffs, etc.
“These new costs continue to inflict or deepen poverty among the populace, stressing the quality of life to the limits,” he said.
According to the NLC, the latest increase had come at a time when government pressure on petroleum marketers to reduce pump prices in line with crude oil prices in the international spot market was beginning to yield results.
The union, however, acknowledged that the latest pressure on domestic fuel prices was linked to the resurgence of conflict in the Gulf, but argued that Nigeria should be better positioned to protect its citizens from such external shocks.
“Yet, even as this new wave of costs is caused by the resurgence of the conflict in the Gulf, our situation needs not be this bleak,” Ajaero said.
He argued that Nigeria’s status as an oil-producing country, coupled with its local refining capacity, provided an opportunity for the government to create a buffer against international oil-market disruptions.
“Coupled with the fact that we are an oil-producing country, we have sufficient local refining capacity, even as this substantially resides with the private sector.
“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, and indeed, other gales,” he said.
To achieve this, the NLC called on the Federal Government to introduce immediate wage awards for workers, increase crude oil supplies to domestic refineries through naira transactions and expand national fuel storage capacity.
“As part of the process of creating this buffer, we urge the government to immediately give reasonable wage awards to workers; sell sufficient crude in Naira to our local refineries; expand our national storage capacity in pursuance of meeting energy emergencies and security,” Ajaero said.
He added that the proposed measures would have wider economic and security benefits.
“These measures will create jobs, economic value as well as deal with mutating security challenges,” he said.
The NLC also argued that government intervention to cushion citizens from the current crisis should not be ruled out on the grounds of deregulation.
“There is nothing wrong with government subsidising the needs of citizens, especially in emergency situations like this,” Ajaero said.
He maintained that oil-producing countries had a responsibility to protect their citizens against severe economic shocks, adding that other countries were already taking measures to cushion their populations.
“At the moment, there is no oil-producing country we know of that has not intervened or come up with sustainable palliatives in one way or the other in these perilous times,” he said.
The labour centre further pointed to what it described as additional revenue accruing to the Federal Government from international crude oil prices above the budget benchmark.
Ajaero said government was currently making between $35 and $40 per barrel above the budgeted figure in the international spot market, which he said translated into “trillions of Naira a month.”
“These measures are all the more necessary and urgent because government is making extra money in the international spot market (of between USD35 and 40 per barrel above the budgeted figure). This translates to trillions of Naira a month,” he said.
“Government ought to be satisfied with this as it is a windfall.”
On local refining, the NLC expressed concern that domestic refineries were still importing crude oil, describing the situation as inconsistent with the objective of developing local refining capacity.
“On a long term basis, we are equally concerned that local refineries are importing crude. This is unreasonable and unacceptable and defeats the logic and purpose of local capacity,” Ajaero said.
The union therefore urged the Federal Government to prioritise adequate crude supply to local refineries as part of measures to reduce Nigeria’s vulnerability to international oil-market disruptions.
The NLC also warned that government could not afford to ignore the hardship caused by rising fuel prices under the banner of deregulation, particularly as the administration approaches the next general elections.
“We are of the view that 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,” Ajaero said.
“Labour has an obligation to speak out or act accordingly.”