The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has called on the federal government to revert petrol prices to their June 2023 positions.
The union’s call followed a recent increase in fuel prices by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.
Before President Bola Tinubu’s removal of the petrol subsidy on May 29, 2023, the product was priced between N195 and N238 per litre across the country.
However, the latest adjustments have seen petrol prices soar to N998 per litre in Lagos and N1,030 per litre in Abuja.
The Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) attributed the price hike to the challenges of importing the product.
This increase has attracted criticism, with the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) warning that it would exacerbate inflation.
At a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, TUC President Festus Osifo urged the government to intervene by providing foreign exchange support to Dangote refinery to address the sector’s challenges.
“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,” Osifo said.
He emphasised the need for the government to offer foreign exchange to Dangote refinery at $1/N1,000 rather than the current rate of over $1/N1,600 to effectively reduce petrol prices.
“The solution we are proposing, if implemented, will take us to the price we had as of June last year,” he added.
Osifo stressed that no government in the world neglects its critical sectors and that the federal government should not leave the oil sector to the “vagaries and gyration of our naira.”
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