The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has demanded the return of petrol prices to what they were as of June 2023.
“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.
He asked the government to specially intervene in the sector by giving foreign exchange to Dangote Refinery at $1/N1,000 and not at the current $over 1/N1,600 exchange rate to crash petrol prices
“The solution we are proposing if implemented will take us to the price we had as of June last year,” Osifo stated, stressing that “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”.
Since May 2023, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has increased the pump prices of petrol from ₦184 in Lagos to ₦998. The price per litre of petrol was around ₦450 in Lagos as of June 2023.
On Thursday, the TUC leader harped on the availability, affordability and accessibility of petrol for all Nigerians, saying that the commodity is essential for all Nigerian households, even those without a second-hand value car.
The trade union placed its demands along the lines of affordability, availability and accessibility, saying, “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.”
Osifo said the NNPCL should source refined petrol from other places if the Dangote Refinery cannot meet the current daily demands of Nigerians.
“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.
