– NLC, TUC have asked President Buhari to reverse the recent increase of fuel price from N86 to N145
– The unions said FG should intensify the prosecution of all those involved in subsidy scams with a view to recovery and sanctioning of the culpable
– The unions also attacked the minister of state for petroleum resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu for speaking from both sides of his mouth NLC and TUC leaders currently meeting in Abuja over new fuel pump price
The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) as well as their civil society allies has given President Muhammadu Buhari three days to reverse the increase pump price of petrol to N86 per litre or face indefinite strike action.
The federal government had announced the removal of subsidy on petrol pegging the price of the product to N145 per litre. Both labour unions made their position known today, Saturday May 14 after a joint emergency meeting in Abuja slammed President Buhari for refusing to honor his words during electioneering where he promised not to remove subsidy.
“During the electioneering campaign last year, the Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress ( APC ), Muhammadu Buhari, had promised that, if elected president, he would not remove fuel subsidy if there was any at all.
After his election, President Muhammadu Buhari had maintained that there was no subsidy in the petroleum product price regime and that even if there was, he did not see how its removal would be beneficial to the ordinary Nigerian, noting that the slightest product price adjustment often leads to inflationary spiral and unimaginable suffering for the people” NLC, TUC said.
The unions also attacked the minister of state for petroleum resources, Dr Ibe
Kachikwu for speaking from both sides of his mouth.
READ ALSO: Rivers state TUC rejects purported removal of fuel subsidy
It urged the Buhari led government to: “Revert to the old price regime to reduce the suffering of the people and to consider this singular act of mindless pump price increase as a betrayal of trust;
“Revert to the pre-45 percent electricity tariff increase, make meters available to consumers and stop estimated billing;
“Reconstitute the boards of PPPRA and NNPC without further delay and give them their statutory right to function alongside DPR in order to deepen the process of consultation, checks and balances in the downstream sector of
the petroleum industry;
“Intensify the prosecution of all those involved in subsidy scams with a view to recovery and sanctioning of the culpable;
“Put in place enhanced local refining capacity within a specified period in
place of endless importation as an enduring solution to the perennial problem
of scarcity;
READ ALSO: Fuel Scarcity: Strike suspended not called off – PENGASSAN
“Reverse the entire deregulation and privatization process which foists on the
nation, private individuals as drivers of the economy in contravention of the
constitutional provision that says government shall be the driver of the
economy and engage the organised labour in the process of negotiation on
key policy issues;
“Wean itself from the overbearing influence of the neo-liberal elements in its
fold who have not only staged a coup but are determined to make this
government collapse even before the end of its four-year tenure;
“Uphold its electioneering promises to Nigerians instead of subjecting them
to the vagaries of slavish policies such as full devaluation of the naira and
total removal of subsidy as enunciated by the IMF and its agents in the
system.
Meanwhile, the two major unions in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector endorsed the
price modulation mechanism adopted by the Federal Government to arrive at
the new N145 per litre pump price for petrol.
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