Following the announcement by the Petroleum Products Price Regulatory Agency, PPPRA to the increase in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit popularly called ‘petrol’ from N121 to N143.80, the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has reacted saying that it is rejecting the move.
According to a statement by the NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, on Thursday, the Union said it is demanding for an immediate reversal of the price, stating that the new price in this COVID-19 pandemic was only going to worsen the poverty level across the country and kill businesses.
The statement also accused the government of not being insensitivity towards its citizen for increasing the pump price of fuel at a time Nigerians and businesses were struggling to cope with the negative consequences of COVID-19 pandemic.
InsideOjodu had earlier reported on Wednesday, July 1 2020 that the Federal Government through the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency announced a new retail price for oil marketers to sell petrol within the price range of N140.80 and N143.80 for the month of July amid COVID19 in Nigeria.
The statement also 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.”