Nigeria Labour Congress Says No Fuel Increase Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

No Fuel Increase During COVID-19 Pandemic, Says Nigeria Labour Congress

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on Thursday rejected the new fuel price announced by the Petroleum Products Price Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) on Wednesday.

In a statement issued by Ayuba Wabba, the President, NLC, the labour demanded instant reversal to the old price, saying the move will kill businesses and worsen the nation’s poverty level at a time when nations are looking to ease economic burden of their citizens and mitigate negative impacts of COVID-19.

The PPPRA had raised the value band of Premium Motor Spirit, commonly referred to as Petrol, to between N140.80 and N143.80 per litre on Wednesday because of the recent increase in crude oil prices.

Nigeria Labour Congress argued that “PPPRA contradicted itself when it said that the latest price increase described as an “advisory” was meant to regulate a product that government claims had been de-regulated.

“That this new hike in the pump price of petrol was announced without the approval of the board of the PPPRA and the oversight ministry speaks volume of the arbitrariness and public contempt in the operations of PPPRA. We find this deeply disturbing.

“It is also very embarrassing that the PPPRA boss, while trying to defend the indefensible, appeared to be out of sorts and ready to clutch at any available straws to sell his ice block merchandise to Eskimos.

“Apart from contradicting himself that PPPRA is still trying to regulate a deregulated product through ‘advisories’, the PPPRA went on to exert more nails on the coffin of his polemics when he argued that PPPRA was just like the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and the National Insurance Commission, NAICOM, that would always act to protect the public interest.

“That was how far the niceties went. The rest of the statement by the PPPRA boss was about how PPPRA plans to protect investors and increase their profit.”