BREAKING: TUC DEMANDS IMMEDIATE RETURN OF PETROL PRICE TO WHAT IT WAS IN JUNE 2023
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The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has urged that petrol prices be returned to what they were in June 2023.
“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.
He recommended the government specifically act in the industry by giving foreign cash to Dangote Refinery at $1/N1,000, rather than the present $over 1/N1,600 exchange rate, to crash petrol prices.
“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”.
Since May 2023, Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has raised petrol prices in Lagos from N184 to N998. In June 2023, the average petrol price in Lagos was roughly N450 per litre.
On Thursday, the TUC head emphasised the availability, affordability, and accessibility of petrol for all Nigerians, claiming that the commodity is necessary for all Nigerian homes, including those without a used automobile.
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 said the NNPCL should source refined petrol from other places if the Dangote Refinery cannot meet the current daily demands of Nigerians.
“If it is not available, it is a problem. If, for example, the production from Dangote Refinery is less than 15 million litres per day, it is not sufficient.
“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.
Nigerians were shocked again on Wednesday morning when NNPC retail shops in Lagos and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, altered the pump price of petrol.
In Lagos, our correspondent noted that many NNPCL stores offered a litre of the necessary commodity for N998, approximately N150 higher than the initial price of N855. The abrupt spike has caused concern among motorists and carriers, with snake-like line-ups forming at filling stations.
Non-NNPCL filling stations in Lagos altered their pump pricing incrementally, with some selling up to N1050 in certain areas.
In Abuja, NNPCL retail outlets raised petrol prices from N897 to N1,030, following a previous increase on September 2, 2024, which raised the price per litre from N568 to N855, causing outrage. The NNPCL has not issued an official statement on the latest increase, but it hinted at a new price increase when it began.
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