The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has stated that Nigerians may end up buying petrol at N5000 per litre.
The spokesperson for the Nigeria Labour Congress, Benson Upah, expressed this fear in a fresh interview with Daily Trust. He said;
“We are planning to have a meeting with the appropriate organs of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC). Those organs will take the decisions. We will take decisions that we believe would be in the best interest of our members and possibly, this country.
Nonetheless, the mood, I can tell you, is that of anger and I want to say that it is not only within the Nigerian Labour Congress that you have anger. Virtually every Nigerian is angry, except that first one per cent that is maintained by the state. You know, that one per cent has everything; we give them everything, those are the only ones who are not complaining. Every other Nigerian is complaining. So, our mood is reflective of the general mood of the country.
After the announcement, the next day, a Senior Special Assistant to the President on Print Media, Mr Abdulaziz Abdulaziz, said we were lying and there was no agreement. We want to reiterate that we feel betrayed by the present increase in the pump price of petroleum products.
One, when Mr. President called for the negotiation, recall that we were stuck at N62,000 and he made two offers; the first was to agree on the N250,000 we recommended while the price of PMS will rise to N1,500 or N2,000 or he will pay N62,000 and the status quo remains. He told us we had a few hours to consult. The labour leaders did not take the bait, rather we asked to be given more time and later requested at least one week to consult outside the Villa. At the end of that one week, the Presidency met again and the labour leaders unambiguously said we would not accept the offer of N250,000.
This was out of consideration for the well-being of the average Nigerian, because we said ‘what would be the effect of this on the ordinary person?’
To keep this brief, the president acted in breach of his promise to labour leaders and he knows the truth. But let us even look at this matter; what has happened goes beyond the parameters of minimum wage and negotiation. It negatively affects the generality of Nigerians. Since the first wave of price increase, occasioned by the removal of fuel subsidy on May 29, 2023, Nigerians have been trying to reorder their lives to accept the fate they never bargained for.
Coming to terms with 500 per cent hike in cost of education, transportation, food and everything else is not easy. At a time they were just trying to adjust to the new normal, you introduce another shock. So, what we have now is uncertainty; we have moved from pain to uncertainty. In fact, this matter goes beyond the logic and philosophy of our national minimum wage.
When the president mentioned that fuel price will increase to N2,000, one of the labour leaders interjected him and said, ‘Sir, you have removed fuel subsidy, so which other thing are you removing again?’ Remember, the subsidy was removed and prices were stabilised. So, how many times are you removing subsidy, that you have removed? Subsidy was never restored at any point in time as they claimed. So, what will inform moving the pump price of PMS from N650 to N1,500 or N2,000?
I want to tell you something, what this signals is that Nigerians have not seen the end yet, we may end up paying nothing less than N5,000 per liter for fuel in this country. We hope not to get there but if we get there, the decision will be left to Nigerians.”
