NLC Rejects Petrol Price Hike, Threatens To ‘Take Matter Into Its Hands’

• The NLC has rejected the new petrol pump price of N617 per litre
• The NLC President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, said the increase “insults our collective intelligence”
• President Tinubu has ordered an immediate review of the proposed N8,000 conditional cash transfer to Nigerians

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

WITHIN NIGERIA had earlier 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.

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

He advised Nigerians to welcome the development, stating that this was the correct course of action.

However, NLC President Comrade Joe Ajaero said the increase “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, Dele Alake, the presidential spokesperson, said in a statement on Tuesday night that Tinubu had ordered an immediate review of the proposed N8,000 conditional cash transfer to Nigerians, which was intended to cushion the impact of the removal of the petrol subsidy.

The President also directed that the entire government’s palliative package 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.