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TUC to FG: Return fuel price to what it was in June 2023

TUC

.Says there’s no government in the world that doesn’t intervene in its critical sector

.Atiku slams Tinubu over hardship his policies including petrol subsidy removal has inflicted upon Nigerians

.Fixing petrol prices illegal, against PIA, Falana tells NNPCL

By Tunde Opalana & ukpono ukpong

The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has asked the Federal Government to return the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly known as petrol, to what it was as of June 2023.

The TUC made the demand at a press briefing in Abuja on Thursday in reaction to Wednesday’s increase in the pump price of petrol by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).

Recall that the NNPCL on Wednesday announced yet another price increase, raising the pump price from N855 to as high as N998 per litre in Lagos, with Abuja prices crossing the N1, 000 threshold.

“We want the price of the product to go below what it was before; not just reverse to what it was before but to go below,” said TUC President, Festus Osifo, at a press briefing in Abuja on Thursday.

He asked the Federal Government to specially intervene in the sector by giving foreign exchange to Dangote Refinery at $1/N1,000 and not at the current $over 1/N1,600 exchange rate to crash petrol prices

“The solution we are proposing if implemented will take us to the price we had as of June last year,” Osifo stated, stressing that “there is no government in the world that doesn’t intervene in its critical sector” and that the Federal Government “shouldn’t leave it (the oil sector) to the vagaries and gyration of our naira”.

Since May 2023, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has increased the pump prices of petrol from ₦184 in Lagos to ₦998. The price per litre of petrol was around ₦450 in Lagos as of June 2023.

On Thursday, the TUC leader harped on the availability, affordability and accessibility of petrol for all Nigerians, saying that the commodity is essential for all Nigerian households, even those without a second-hand value car.

The trade union placed its demands along the lines of affordability, availability and accessibility, saying, “We want the Federal Government to, through Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), give all marketers licenses to lift petrol from the Dangote Refinery.”

Osifo said the NNPCL should source refined petrol from other places if the Dangote Refinery cannot meet the current daily demands of Nigerians.

“If it is not available, it is a problem. If, for example, the production from Dangote Refinery is less than 15 million litres per day, it is not sufficient.

“So, while efforts are being made to ramp up production from Dangote Refinery, what we are demanding is that we should look for every other means as we are ramping up production, we should source for that difference and bring it in for a while until Dangote can get to that level where the production is sufficient to get to all nooks and crannies of Nigeria. For us, that is key because it will address the issue of availability,” the TUC boss stated.

Meanwhile, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, on Thursday, slammed President Bola Tinubu for being undisturbed by the hardship his policies including the removal of petrol subsidy has inflicted upon Nigerians.

Recall that the NNPCL on Wednesday announced yet another price increase, raising the pump price from N855 to as high as N998 per litre in Lagos, with Abuja prices crossing the N1, 000 threshold.

In an X (formerly Twitter) post on Thursday, Atiku, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), labelled Tinubu as “T-Pain” for drowning the well-being of Nigerians.

“The haphazard and disingenuous approach of the current administration to fuel subsidy management has been the reason we are in this current economic crisis in the country.

“As things stand, there will be no let-up in the escalating inflation rate, which is drowning the material well-being of Nigerians. It is even more worrying that T-pain is undisturbed by the hardship in the country,” Atiku wrote.

In a related development, Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, says it is illegal for the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to fix petrol prices.

In a statement on Thursday, Falana said the action by the petroleum company contravened the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).

Falana said though the NNPCL claimed the market has been deregulated and market forces now determine petrol prices, “the NNPCL fixed the price of fuel refined by the Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical Company Limited last month. The so-called market forces were not allowed to fix the price”.

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“Yesterday (Wednesday), the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited announced new pump prices of fuel refined by the Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical Company. Once again, the so-called market forces were not allowed to fix the new prices of fuel.

“The decisions of the NNPCL to fix the prices of imported fuel and locally refined fuel are illegal, nullity and void as they contravene the provisions of section 205 of the Petroleum Industry Act which stipulates that the prices of petroleum products shall be determined by market forces,” he said.

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