The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has called on the Federal Government to reduce petrol prices to the rates seen in June 2023.
This demand comes amidst rising fuel costs that have affected Nigerians since May when the rate surged from ₦184 to the current price of ₦998 per litre in Lagos.
The Congress goes on to make a raft of suggestions which it reckons, when adopted by the Federal Government, would ameliorate the current hardship greeting the sudden increase in fuel pump price.
avert the impending mallei The TUC proposed that foreign exchange be allocated to Dangote Refinery at a lower rate to make fuel more affordable.
It also suggested sourcing refined petrol from other regions if current production cannot meet local demand.
In addition, the TUC advocated for all marketers to be given licenses to lift petrol from the Dangote Refinery, ensuring availability and access to fuel across the country.
“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,” said TUC President, Festus Osifo, at a press briefing in Abuja on Thursday.
“We want the Federal Government to, through Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), give all marketers licenses to lift petrol from the Dangote Refinery.
“The solution we are proposing if implemented will take us to the price we had as of June last year.
“There is no government in the world that doesn’t intervene in its critical sector” and that the Federal Government “shouldn’t leave it (the oil sector) to the vagaries and gyration of our naira.
“If it is not available, it is a problem. If, for example, the production from Dangote Refinery is less than 15 million litres per day, it is not sufficient.
“So, while efforts are being made to ramp up production from Dangote Refinery, what we are demanding is that we should look for every other means as we are ramping up production, we should source for that difference and bring it in for a while until Dangote can get to that level where the production is sufficient to get to all nooks and crannies of Nigeria.
For us, that is key because it will address the issue of availability,” the TUC boss stated.
