Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, speaks on fuel price increase

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has said it feels betrayed by the federal government following Tuesday’s increase in the pump price of petrol at NNPC Ltd’s fuel stations.

The NLC, in a statement by its president, Joe Ajaero, said, “One of the reasons for accepting N70,000 as national minimum wage was the understanding that the pump price of pms would not be increased even as we knew that N70,000 was not sufficient.”

NNPC’s petrol stations across Nigeria increased their pump price of petrol from about N600 to about N897.

No official reason for the increase has been given, but the state-owned oil firm recently lamented that it could no longer sustain the petrol price.

NNPC Ltd. is currently the sole importer of petrol into Nigeria and spends billions of naira monthly to subsidise the product.

In his statement, Mr Ajaero said President Bola Tinubu, during negotiations for the minimum wage, had given the NLC two options: “either N250,000 as minimum wage (subject to the rise of pump price between N1,500 and N2,000) and N70,000 (at old pms rate).”

He said the NLC chose the latter option only for it to be confronted by Tuesday’s increase in petrol price.

“Here we are, barely one month later, with the government yet to commence payment of the new minimum wage, confronted by a reality we cannot explain,” Mr Ajaero added, describing the situation as both “traumatic and nightmarish.”

The NLC president further criticised the government’s approach to resolving the fuel subsidy issue, arguing that the labour movement had foreseen the challenges but was dismissed by officials who accused them of lacking an understanding of basic economics.

He also linked the fuel price increase to what he described as a pattern of betrayal by the government, citing similar unfulfilled promises regarding electricity tariff hikes.

Mr Ajaero condemned the government’s broader economic policies, which he said had led to widespread hardship and triggered protests such as the End-Hunger/End Bad Governance demonstrations.

He accused the government of responding to dissent with repression, including arrests and charges of treason against protestors.

“The clandestine increase in the pump price of petrol is the first among equally sinister policies the government has up its sleeve,” he warned, vowing that the NLC would not be intimidated.

The NLC demanded the immediate reversal of the fuel price increase, the release of all those arrested during recent protests, and called on government to put a halt to the indiscriminate detention of citizens.

The NLC also demanded an end to policies that engender hunger and insecurity, electricity tariff hikes, and an end to what it described as the government’s “culture of terror, fear, and lying.”