Ajaero argued that a private company like NNPCL should not be saddled with determination of fuel pump price
By Kehinde Okeowo
The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, has queried the decision of the President Bola Tinubu-led administration to allow the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to determine the pump price of Dangote Refinery’s Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) otherwise called petrol.
Speaking on Wednesday in Abuja, the organized labour’s president argued that a private company like NNPCL should not be allowed to determine fuel pump prices.
His condemnation comes amid NNPCL’s decision to jack up the retail price of petrol to N1,030 from N897 per litre in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and announce different prices across other regions in the country.
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Addressing the hike, Ajaero said: “As we are sitting down here, they have gone to increase the pump price of petroleum again. Now what do you do in such instances?
“They expect us to buy it. Even, things we have been asking for; CNG as an alternative; for more than one year, we have been asking for the commencement of work at the Port Harcourt refinery; we had an agreement to that effect—NLC, TUC, and the federal government.
“We have heard that Dangote Refinery is producing locally and prices are going up. All the indices they gave to us about the need to deregulate have proven negative. You are fixing prices as a private company.
“As far as I’m concerned, except something has happened to CAC, NNPCL is now a private company. Can that same NNPCL dictate the price for Dangote and other private companies? Those are issues, those are questions begging for answers.”