NLC rejects Petrol Price Hike, threatens to ‘take matter into its hands’

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has rejected the new pump price of petrol fixed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL).

Daily Trust had reported how the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly known as fuel or petrol, has increased to N617 per litre in the nation’s capital and N620 in Kano.

Addressing State House correspondents earlier on Tuesday, Mele Kyari, Group  Executive Director of NNPCL, justified the hike, which he attributed to market forces.

He advised Nigerians to welcome the development, saying that was the way to go.

But NLC President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, described the increment as “insults our collective intelligence.”

In a statement, he said: “The proposal to pay N8,000 to each of the so-called 12 million poorest Nigerian households for a period of six months insults our collective intelligence and makes a mockery of our patience and abiding faith in social dialogue which the government may have alluded to albeit pretentiously.

“If the government does not want to stop these fortuitous actions that it is pursuing in the name of palliatives, we will be forced to constructively review our engagement with the government on this vexatious issue and take matters into our own hands.”

However, in a statement on Tuesday night, Dele Alake, presidential spokesperson, said Tinubu had ordered the immediate review of the proposed N8,000 conditional cash transfer to Nigerians, meant to cushion the effect of the petrol subsidy removal.

The President also directed that the whole gamut of the palliative package of government be unveiled to Nigerians.

“That the N8,000 conditional cash transfer programme envisaged to bring succour to most vulnerable households be reviewed immediately. This is in deference to the views expressed by Nigerians against it,” the statement read.

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