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From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
The leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) have strongly condemned the persistent shortages of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) popularly called petrol in the country, saying it has become a source of pain to the Nigerian people.
The organised labour, decried the situation which has led not just to long avoidable queues, but also to the adulteration of the product by the unscrupulous elements and exploitation of the consumers.
In a statement jointly signed by the NLC and TUC Presidents, Ayuba Wabba and Festus Osifo respectively, they
asked the Federal Government to quickly curtail the avoidable, unnecessary, crippling and pain-inducing fuel shortages and unapproved price hike of up to N240 in the country.
According to them, “No excuse is good enough to cripple the country. If there are challenges, they should be fixed; we have a government in power to fix challenges not to make excuses.”
“We are reliably informed that the shortage is deliberately fostered by players in the downstream sector in other to hike the price far above the government approved threshold. It is an added problem when non-state actors begin to arrogate to themselves the power to determine the price of a liter of fuel far above the rate pegged by government in the current subsidy regime
“The Nigerian people and tax payers currently expense several trillions of Naira annually to subsidize petrol. The same people cannot be exploited and made to pay over N240 per liter when the current ex-depot price is currently fixed at N148.19k per liter. The opportunity cost of the subsidy payment is enormous and yet the benefit of the subsidy regime is gradually been eroded.
“No country develops when its people are subjected to perennials hardship and its industries are shackled by unnecessary chains of miseries.
“more disturbing that the government is equally demonstrating high level of culpability in the unwholesome situation by its silence and unwillingness to frontally and publicly address the harrowing experiences of Nigeria in the current situation because no concerned and responsive government will bury its head in the sands like the proverbial Ostrich while the citizens are being brutally exploited.
“For the records, no private individual or companies are importing a litre of PMS into this Country, all Products are imported by the government and there is no record whatsoever that the agency of government that is importing the products has added a kobo to the price it sells the Products to the Marketers. Then who is benefiting from this racketeering?” They queried.
The workers’ unions expressed worries that leaving the country’s energy security and sovereignty in the hands of unscrupulous capitalists and their collaborators will further plunge this nation into the economic abyss it is working hard to avoid.
“Regulatory and law enforcement agencies should do more to protect the larger Nigeria society from exploitation.” They stated.
