Nigerians should pay less for fuel, says labour

The Nigeria Labour Congress has accused the Federal Government of denying Nigerians the benefits accruing from the falling crude oil price.

The President, NLC, Abdulwahed Omar, in a post on the congress’ website, said the situation on the ground pointed to the fact that the government did not have a structured response to the present situation in the crude oil market.

The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Nigerian economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, while speaking on the 2015 budget proposal, had said, “Our preliminary estimates show that the break-even crude oil price, at which the landed cost of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) will equal our current pump price of N97 per litre so that there will no longer be subsidy, is about $60 per barrel.”

The NLC said by implication, Nigerians are expected to pay less than N97 per litre for petrol, once oil price slumps to $60 or lower per barrel.

As of Friday, Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, stood at $49 per barrel, meaning Nigeria is due for a drop in pump price of petrol.

The NLC boss said, practically, all the measures muted or taken so far by government showed a smack of shock and panic, and clearly exposed the country’s vulnerability.

Omar noted that the current situation could have been avoided, if labour’s earlier advice had been taken.

He said, “For instance, we recall advising government time without number to boost the capacity of domestic refining, instead of depending on imports, whose landing cost is dependent on prevailing exchange rate and other motivations not far from usury.”

Omar stressed that, “We still stand by our time-tested position that the only permanent solution to the crisis of petroleum products pricing is adequate domestic refining. Accordingly, we urge government to put in place realistic appropriate legislation and policy in order to realise this.”

The NLC boss stated that the Congress had urged the Federal Government to diversify the economy from oil by developing other sectors.

Omar also said in spite of the presence of a multi-agency task force in the Niger Delta, crude oil theft became phenomenal in 2014, accounting for as much as 30 per cent of national output.

This, he noted, had created loss of revenue and divestments, saying that, “closely linked to this horrendous crime is the degradation of the environment by illegal refineries, oil spills, cover-ups and related incidents.”

Omar further said despite the rating of Nigerian economy in 2014 as the biggest in Africa, there was little by way of practical performance, as lending rates remained high making the cost of doing business unreasonable.