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…NLC, TUC Brace Up
…As FG Makes Strong Case for Deregulation to Stop Profiteering
The nation risks a shutdown as the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) are prepping for mass industrial action to protest the hike in the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol and the newly implemented electricity tariff regime.
Following the review of the Ex-depot price of PMS to N151.56 by the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), Wednesday, the pump price at fuel stations quickly went up to N161 per litre on Thursday from the initial N148 it was being sold. While the fuel price went up by 10 per cent, the electricity tariff has gone up by 75 per cent.
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Reacting, the NLC President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba on Thursday said consultations are ongoing on the manner of industrial action to be taken to protest the hike, noting it has fixed a meeting for next week. Wabba said: “Clearly, the action of the Federal Government is most insensitive and an affront to the Nigerian people who are bearing a heavy burden of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Everywhere in the world, governments are granting various types of palliative but ours is interested in piling more miseries on its citizens. We will resist this latest move to impoverish the mass of the working people.”
Also, the TUC President, Comrade Quadri Olaleye, in a statement, hinted that consultations had started with the various arms of labour groups and civil societies to stage a protest. Olaleye lamented that the increase in petroleum prices and electricity tariff was ill-timed, coming amid the debilitating hardship occasioned by the Covid-19 crisis. “They have developed a thick skin that our pleas and cries no longer mean anything to them. No government has raped this country like the present one; ironically it has enjoyed our understanding the most. They beat us and when we cry, they send security operatives after us or force us to pay a fine of N5m for ‘’hate speech’’. Our patience has run out,” he said.
Meanwhile, a former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has described the hike in fuel price and electricity tariff as “ill-timed and ill-advised”. He said instead of an increment, Nigerians were hoping to get a stimulus, especially to scale the pandemic that has brought economies around the world to their knees. “I reject the increased electricity tariffs. Coming out of the lockdown, Nigerians need a stimulus, not an impetuous disregard for the challenges they face. “Many Nigerians have not earned an income for months, due to no fault of theirs. This increase is ill-timed and ill-advised,’’ he said.
The federal government has been offering an explanation of why the deregulation of the downstream sector of the petroleum industry would prove rewarding for Nigerians in the long run.
Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva has on Thursday, reiterated that government is no longer fixing the pump price of petroleum products in the country. Briefing journalists on the increase in the pump price of PMS, Sylva said “Government is no longer in the business of fixing prices for petroleum products, we have stepped back. “Our focus now is on protecting the interest of the consumers and making sure that marketers are not profiteering. “You all know that that President Muhammadu Buhari aligns with ordinary Nigerians, especially the poor.
“Left for him, he will never allow an increase in pump price; for this to happen, it means that it is an inevitable decision. COVID-19 took the price of crude oil to zero zones. Deregulation will definitely come with few pains, but the survival of the country is paramount,” the minister said.
Source: newdiplomatng.com
