* NLC kicks, threatens strike
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Timipre Sylva, has attributed the recent increase in petrol pump price from N158 to N168 to the prospects of having a vaccine for COVID-19 pandemic.
Sylva stated this while addressing State House Correspondents on Monday, after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at his Aso Rock Presidential Villa office in Abuja.
The minister said prices would continue to be affected by developments in the crude oil market from time to time, adding that the current situation is as a result of a slight increase in the price of crude oil in the international market when Pfizer’s discovery of an effective vaccine for COVID-19 was announced.
“Now what happened recently was because of the announcement of a vaccine for COVID-19 by Pfizer. With that crude oil prices went up a little bit. Of you have been following crude oil prices you would have seen that crude oil prices went up a little bit, as a result of this announcement.
“So when crude oil prices go up a little bit, then you will see that it instantly reflects on the price of petrol, which is a derivative of crude oil. That’s why you see that there’s this movement and if we listen to ourselves, this is the same explanation we’ve been giving.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has said that the recent increase in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) has only exacerbated the level of pain and anguish in the country.
Last week, the Petroleum Products and Marketing Company (PPMC), announced an increase in the ex- depot price of petrol from N147.67 per litre to N155.19 per liter.
But the NLC, in a statement by its President, Com Ayuba Wabba, said the price increase is against the spirit and content of what organised labour agreed with the Federal government at the last negotiations over the last fuel price increase.
The statement read: “There is no doubt that there is great disquiet in the land over the extraordinary level of inflation in the country. The recent increase in the pump price of the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) has only exacerbated the current level of pain and anguish in the country. The recent increase in the pump price of PMS is clearly against the spirit and content of what organized labour agreed with government at the last negotiations over the last fuel price increase.
“It has also cast in very bad light our utmost good faith with regards to government explanations that it lacks funds to continue bankrolling the so-called subsidy payments as such would sooner than later cripple the entire economy, throw the country into severe economic crisis and cause loss of jobs in millions.
“While we await the full recovery of our refineries as contained in our agreement with the government, Nigerians cannot be made to bleed endlessly for the failures of successive government to properly manage our refineries, ensure value for money for the numerous Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) which were poorly and barely executed and the horrifying lack of interest in prosecuting public officials and private business people who have profited from the rot in our petroleum sector and the collective misery they have imposed on the general population.
“The truth is that we would not have been in this precarious situation if the government had been alive to its responsibilities. There is a limit to what the citizens can tolerate if this abysmal increases in the price of refined petroleum products and other essential goods and services continue. While we fix our refineries, there are a number of options open to the government to stem the tide of high prices of refined petroleum products.
“One is for the government to declare a state of emergency in our downstream petroleum sector. As a follow up to this, the government should enter into contract refining with refineries closer home to Nigeria. This will ensure that the cost of supplying crude oil is negotiated away from the prevailing international market rate so that the landing cost of refined petroleum products is significantly reduced.
“Government should also demonstrate the will to stamp out the smuggling of petroleum products out of Nigeria. We need to see big-time petroleum smugglers arraigned in the court of law and made to pay for their crimes against the Nigerian people. Government has the resources available to it to ensure this economic justice to Nigerians.
“The question in the minds of many Nigerians is if the government is willing to go headlong against major financiers of the major political parties known to the public as the architects of the current national woe.
“We also demand that Nigerians should be carried along on the distribution of refined petroleum products. Information on the distribution of petroleum products to petrol stations should be advertised and made public knowledge.
“It should not be difficult to establish the average time it takes a petrol station to exhaust its supplies. There is already an established market trend which will help the government fix the rot in Nigeria’s downstream petroleum sector.
“Second, we call on the government to review the entire process of licensing for modular and bigger refineries. It is queer to depend on the enterprise of one man to fix Nigeria’s downstream petroleum subsector. The more public and private refineries in play the higher the competition. This would serve end consumers who would benefit from lower prices. Organized Labour will not accept a fait accompli of the monopoly of Nigeria’s downstream petroleum sector or the emergence of a cartel of Oligarchs whose end game is mass pauperization.
“Third, in line with our recent agreement with the government, we will be receiving updates in the next few days from our unions in the petroleum sector which have been given the mandate to keep surveillance on a government promise to overhaul our public refineries. We will also receive updates from our representatives in the electricity review committee. The updates we receive will determine whether the government has kept to its side of the bargain which is to take serious steps to recover and reposition our public refineries.”