Labour Demands Immediate Reversal of Latest Pump Price of Fuel, Says Nigerian Workers Feel Betrayed, Deceived By FG

By: Israel Adeleke, AbdulWasiu Akintunde

The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has demanded the immediate reversal of the latest pump price of PMS across the country, noting that the union feels deeply betrayed by the Federal Government.

This demand was contained in a press statement released by the NLC on Tuesday evening.

The NLC President, Joe Ajaero, revealed that organized labour had earlier accepted the N70,000 minimum wage in July because the government promised not to increase the price of petrol.

His words, "We are filled with a deep sense of betrayal as the federal government clandestinely increases the pump price of pms."

The Labour Leader further revealed that "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."

"We recall vividly when Mr President gave us the devil's alternatives to choose from: either N250,000 as minimum wage (subject to the rise of the pump price between N1,500 and N2,000) and N70,000 (at old pms rates), we opted for the latter because we could not bring ourselves to accept further punishment on Nigerians.

"But here we are, barely one month after and with government yet to commence payment of the new national minimum wage, confronted by a reality we cannot explain", noting that the current development "is both traumatic and nightmarish."

In a tone of utter distrust for the Federal Government, Ajaero said, "But if truth be told, this act of betrayal is consistent with the character of this government. We recall the assurances we were given by the leadership of the National Assembly on the 250% tariff hike, that it had been dealt with and there was no need to openly engage the Minister of Power who was at that meeting." 

He noted that instead of the promised reversal, the rate has since been jerked up further putting more Nigerians and businesses in jeopardy.

The Labour President while lamenting the failure of the Federal Government to address the pressing demands of hungry and impoverished Nigerians who had staged the 10-day #endhunger protests in August but chose to deploy the police and other security agencies to go on rampage "terrorising the citizenry in pursuance of government's agenda of muzzling law abiding citizens."

Ajaero therefore said the government should reverse the pump price of petrol across the country and retract the 250 per cent tariff hike on electricity.

While insisting that government cannot criminalise protests or basic rights in the domain of the citizenry, the NLC President articulated the demands of the Congress on Federal Government to include the following:

"Accordingly, we demand the immediate: 

1). Reversal of the latest increase in the pump of pms across the country;

2). Release of all those incarcerated or being prosecuted on the assumption of having participated in the recent protests;

3). Halt the indiscriminate arrest and detention of citizens on trumped up charges;

4). Reversal of the 250% tariff hike in electricity;

5). Stop to the hijack of the duties of the Ministry of Labour and Employment;

6). End to policies that engender hunger and insecurity;

7). Halt to government's culture of terror, fear and lying.

The statement concludes that "In the coming days, the appropriate organs of the Congress will be meeting to take appropriate decisions which will be made public.

OPEN TELEVISION NAIJA (OTN) News reports that as at Tuesday evening, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPCL) Limited had increased the pump price of petrol across its retail outlets with many of their outlets fixing the pump price at between N850 and N900 from the initial N580 or N600 per litre.

OTN News also observed that earlier in the week, many of the NNPCL outlets were shut down and failed to sell fuel to customers until Tuesday evening when they introduced the new pump price which has left millions of Nigerians perplexed and living in palpable fears and harsh realities of further hike in cost of transportation as well as food and other items that are already costly across the country