Newsfront Online …Telling the Public as it is
Sequel to reports in the media that the pump price of Premium Motor Sprit (PMS), also called petrol, is about to be increased again, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) yesterday threatened to go on a nationwide strike if the product sells above the current price of N617.
The labour centre warned that it will embark on the strike without any notification. LEADERSHIP reports that following the removal of subsidy on PMS by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on his assumption of office on May 29 this year, the price of petrol has risen twice: from N194 per litre to N537 on May 30, and to N617 on July 19, this year.
This has put the government on a collision course with Labour, which had already embarked on protests and threats of further industrial actions. NLC national president, Comrade Joe Ajaero, who gave the warning in Abuja yesterday during the African Trade Union Alliance meeting, said the unions would resist further price hikes.
Although there is yet to be any official announcement by the NNPC Limited about a new price increase, some media reports yesterday indicated an imminent increase in the price to N720. According to Ajaero, there were purported plans to further increase the pump price of petrol, and he expressed dismay that the development will cause additional and untold hardship on Nigerians.
He said, “As we are here now, they are contemplating increasing the pump price of petroleum products, and the Ministry of Labour for some time now would only go to the Ministry of Justice to come up with a so-called injunction to hold the hands of Labour not to respond. “But let me say this: Nigerian workers will not give any notice if we have not addressed the consequences of the last two increases and we wake up from our sleep to hear that they have tampered with the prices again.”
The NLC president pointed out that government’s bad economic policies were making workers’ wages meaningless and urged a rethink. “If you check those policies that lead to inflation and devaluation of the currency, we will be comfortable even where we are. If the naira is at par with the dollar today, we will ask you to leave the minimum wage at N30,000.
“If inflation is checked to zero, we will ask you to leave things the way they are. But inflation is flying, and by the admittance of the National Bureau of Statistics, we have over 133 million Nigerians that are multi-dimensionally poor. I think these are the issues the government should address. If we go for a wage increase tomorrow, the inflation that will follow suit will destroy it,” he said.
Fix Refineries, Scrap VAT On Diesel, Marketers Tell FG
Meanwhile, the Natural Oil and Gas Suppliers Association of Nigeria (NOGASA) has called on the federal government to remove the Value Added Tax (VAT) currently charged on diesel to reduce the cost that truck owners spend to transport Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) across the country.
NOGASA asked the federal government to suspend the recently introduced 7.5 per cent VAT imposed on Automotive Gas Oil (AGO), also known as diesel. The national president of NOGASA, Mr. Bennett Korie, who stated these in Abuja, insisted that there is the need to stop the payment on VAT on diesel so as to make it cheaper to transport petroleum products.
He said most of the trucks which convey the fuels from depots to stations are powered by diesel and also fuels the cost of petrol. “Because of the VAT that the government has imposed on diesel, today as we speak diesel is going from between N920 to N950. Diesel was like N600 before the tax on diesel,” he said.
The association also urged the federal government to fix Nigeria’s refineries and ensure constant supply of crude oil to modular refineries to boost in-country refining. This is just as it called on the government to quickly intervene in fixing the deplorable condition of roads in the country following the flooding that has affected some sections of the roads.
Korie advised the government to deploy the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to the upstream terminals where crude oil is loaded to collect the tax. He insisted that the FIRS must give the downstream sector a tax holiday because the operators are already losing their capital.
The NOGASA boss said, “We are suffering too much. We are losing money on a daily basis. We borrowed money from the banks and some of us cannot pay again. “We are in trouble. So, there is a need for the government to come into this matter urgently, otherwise we will have a problem.”
Asked to confirm whether there will be a PMS price hike, he said: “Definitely, the price of PMS will go up once dollar price goes up. If you are exchanging $1 for N950, it will go up.” Though he could not confirm how much the petrol could sell when it increases, he, however, said considering the problems associated with the removal of fuel subsidy, it has become imperative for the government to do all within its powers to alleviate the suffering of oil and gas suppliers.
According to him, apart from the high cost of diesel, there is the need to address the country’s exchange rate crisis as it is making it difficult to import petroleum products Korie went on: “We want to suggest that the government move into action on this dollar issue, otherwise diesel and petrol and other petroleum products will go higher than they are today.
“Give crude to the modular refineries so that they can refine and supply diesel to the market. If the three or four currently in operation are able to refine consistently, it would boost the supply of diesel by as much as two million litres daily,” he said. So, the only way out is to take action, serious action. Call the BDC, call the bank CEOs and let them come out with one uniform price that will be okay for them so that we can say this is how much the dollar will be. The way the dollar is going, it is becoming a major issue for us.”
On the state of Nigeria’s refineries, he called on the government to work with Nigerian engineers to address the challenges facing the refineries. “We need to get our engineers and let them go there to check what the issues are, and fix them. If we take this matter seriously, they can fix it. If the refineries are there, it will help us address the petrol subsidy issue.
“We are talking about roads, also. The roads are bad for our trucks to move petroleum products freely. I have spent over N50 million to fix the roads. From Warri to Abuja there is no road, our trucks have been there for two weeks and no road.
“The government should give licences to private and modular refineries, give them crude oil so that they produce diesel, if this happens, the price of diesel will reduce because it is diesel we use to transport this product.”
He noted that apart from the exchange rate, the cost of diesel used by trucks to transport PMS also contributes to its high price. “If we continue this way, then it means that, one day, we will buy PMS at a price higher than diesel. We have Niger Delta Refinery and Walter Smith Refinery. Our trucks are trapped, over 500 of them are trapped on the bad roads,” he lamented.
Filling Stations Shut Down Amid Price Hike Speculation
Major and independent petroleum products marketers in Lagos have shut down their dispensing outlets over speculation of possible hike in pump price of Premium Motor Spirit, also called petrol. LEADERSHIP reports that most filling stations have shut down while few in operation have unprecedented long vehicular queues.
TotalEnergies outlet by Abule (Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja) and MRS at Ikeja that opened earlier in the morning closed shop at about 9am. The national president of Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, Elder Chinedu Okoronkwo, yesterday said nothing had changed so far, but that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) was in a better position to make pronouncements on the matter.
He referred LEADERSHIP to depot operators who would also be able to determine the landing cost of the product. Sources said the pump price may climb up to N750 per litre. Transporters who spoke to our correspondent yesterday morning complained that they could not access the products as many stations in the state had suspended operations.
LEADERSHIP reported last week that marketers were contemplating to decline further importation. Our correspondent was informed by industry sources that the rise in the exchange rate had made the business unprofitable. Only last month, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) said oil marketers had started importing petrol into the nation.
