The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has strongly criticised the recent fuel price hike by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), calling it a betrayal of the Nigerian people.
According to the report, NNPC increased the petrol price from N897 to N1,030 per litre.
In a statement, NLC President Joe Ajaero condemned the government’s handling of the fuel price increase, arguing that a private company like NNPC should not be setting prices for Nigerians.
“It seems like the only thing this government is known for is raising petrol prices without considering Nigerians’ capacity or providing any mitigating measures,” Ajaero said.
The NLC has urged the government to present a plan for inclusive economic growth and national development, instead of relying on temporary solutions. Ajaero warned that the latest price hike will worsen poverty, cause job losses, and have widespread negative impacts on Nigerians.
The full statement reads:
We are dismayed by the latest increase in the pump price of petrol. It looks like the only thing this government is known for is increase in the pump price of petrol without commensurate capacity of Nigerians or mitigatory measures.
Even following the logic of market forces , we find it an aberration that a private company (NNPCL) is the one fixing prices and projecting itself as a hegemonic monopoly.
We challenge the government to go to the drawing board and present us with a blueprint for an inclusive economic growth and national development instead of this spasmodic ad hocism and palliative policy.
It needs no stating the fact that the latest wave of increase has grossly altered the calculations of Nigerians once again at a time they were reluctantly coming to terms with their new realities.
It will further deepen poverty as production capacities dip, more jobs lost with multidimensional negative effects.
In light of this, we urge the government to immediately reverse this rate hike as previous increases did not produce any good result. People only got poorer.
But more fundamentally, the government should be bold enough to tell Nigerians in advance the destination it wants to take the country.
