 has called for a reinstatement of the petrol price to what it was in June 2023.){kind=link}
The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has called for a reinstatement of the petrol price to what it was in June 2023.
To lower petrol costs, he requested that the government specifically step in and provide Dangote Refinery with foreign exchange at a rate of $1/N1,000 rather than the present rate of more than 1/N1,600.
We want the price of the product to go below what it was before; not just reverse to what it was before but to go below,” said TUC President, Festus Osifo, at a press briefing in Abuja on Thursday.
“The solution we are proposing if implemented will take us to the price we had as of June last year,” Osifo stated, stressing that “there is no government in the world that doesn’t intervene in its critical sector” and that the Federal Government “shouldn’t leave it (the oil sector) to the vagaries and gyration of our naira”.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) raised the price of petrol at the pump in Lagos from 184 to 998 starting in May 2023. In June 2023, the cost of a litre of fuel in Lagos was around 450.
The TUC head insisted on Thursday that petrol should be affordable, readily available, and available to all Nigerians, stating that all Nigerian households—even those without a cheap, used car—need this basic necessity.
The trade union made requests related to pricing, availability, and accessibility, stating, “We want the Federal Government to, through the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), give all marketers licenses to lift petrol from the Dangote Refinery.”
Osifo stated that if the Dangote Refinery is unable to fulfil Nigerians’ present daily demands, the NNPCL should obtain refined fuel elsewhere.
“If it isn’t available, that’s an issue. If, for example, Dangote Refinery produces fewer than 15 million litres per day, it is not adequate.
“So, while efforts are being made to ramp up production from Dangote Refinery, what we are demanding is that we should look for every other means as we are ramping up production, we should source for that difference and bring it in for a while until Dangote can get to that level where the production is sufficient to get to all nooks and crannies of Nigeria. For us, that is key because it will address the issue of availability,” the TUC boss stated.