30-day fuel discount: Abandon your insensitive policies, NLC tells FG

The leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has advised the Federal Government to jettison what it described as its “insensitive policies that have allowed indiscriminate hikes in the price of petroleum products”.

The Congress also took a swipe at the government, saying it cannot continue to demand sacrifice from workers while not offering any relief to the suffering masses and workers.

It stated these in a communique issued after the joint meeting of the National Executive Council (NEC) and Central Working Committee (CWC) and read to journalists by the President of NLC, Joe Ajaero, at Labour House, Abuja.

Daily Trust reports that the Federal Government had earlier announced that Nigerians will start buying petrol at lower prices at NNPC filling stations for the next 30 days.

Under the proposed price modulation mechanism, the government is negotiating a ₦1,350-per-litre ceiling on the ex-gantry or landing cost of petrol, subject to monthly reviews.

The proposed ceiling does not mean petrol will sell for ₦1,350 per litre at filling stations, rather, it is intended to prevent sharp movements in global crude prices or the exchange rate from immediately translating into corresponding increases in the cost of petrol.

Reacting to the development, the NLC said the exorbitant pump price of petrol has had a cascading effect on the cost of transportation, food, and other essential goods, further deepening the hardship of workers and the masses.

“The joint meeting reiterates its call on the federal government to work with relevant agencies to immediately reduce the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), commonly known as petrol.

“The government must abandon its insensitive policies that have allowed for indiscriminate hikes in the price of petroleum products which has only served to enrich a handful of oil marketers while pauperising the masses,” Ajaero said.

The labour leader revealed that the joint meeting-in-session noted with profound alarm the deepening misery inflicted on the Nigerian working class and the broader masses by the “neo-liberal policies of the federal government and its state institutions.”

The NLC President added, “Inflation continues to soar unabated, the naira remains traumatised, wages have been rendered worthless, and the cost of living has become unbearable.

“The ruling elite, acting as enforcers of global monopoly capital, have demonstrated a worrying indifference to the suffering of the people, choosing instead to transfer the burden of their fiscal negligence onto the already impoverished working masses thus abandoning the people to the dictates of comprador fat cats.”