By Adedapo Adesanya
On Wednesday, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) rejected the new increase in petrol prices, saying it would further deepen poverty in the country.
“It will further deepen poverty as production capacities dip, more jobs lost with multidimensional negative effects, NLC President, Mr Joe Ajaero, said in a statement.
“In light of this, we urge the government to immediately reverse this rate hike as previous increases did not produce any good results. People only got poorer.
“But more fundamentally, the government should be bold enough to tell Nigerians in advance the destination it wants to take the country,” he added.
Business Post reported yesterday that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited increased the pump price at its retail stations to N998 per litre in Lagos and N1,030 per litre in Abuja.
This action has forced independent marketers to raise their prices to about N1,100 per litre and above.
In his statement, the NLC President said the congress is “dismayed by the latest increase in the pump price of petrol.”
“It looks like the only thing this government is known for is an increase in the pump price of petrol without commensurate capacity of Nigerians or mitigatory measures.
“Even following the logic of market forces, we find it an aberration that a private company (NNPCL) is the one fixing prices and projecting itself as a hegemonic monopoly.
“We challenge the government to go to the drawing board and present us with a blueprint for inclusive economic growth and national development instead of this spasmodic ad hocism and palliative policy.
“It needs no stating the fact that the latest wave of increase has grossly altered the calculations of Nigerians once again at a time they were reluctantly coming to terms with their new realities.”
Dipo Olowookere