NLC vows to resist ‘backdoor’ removal of fuel subsidy

NLC president, Ayuba Waba

The Nigeria Labour Congress on Tuesday warned the Federal Government against removing subsidy on petroleum products through the back door, saying organised labour will resist such move by government.

In a statement signed by its General Secretary, Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson, the NLC also asked the government to immediately constitute the board of the Petroleum Products Prices Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) which has the sole legal responsibility to fix prices of petroleum products.

The Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachukwu was quoted as saying that the government will stop paying subsidy on petroleum product in 2016, while prices of petrol will be fixed at N85 per liter.

The congress said what the government was planning was to remove subsidy through the back door, adding that any price fixed for the products now by the minister will be illegal since only the PPPRA has the right to fix prices.

In the statement titled: “We will resist removal of fuel subsidy through the back door,” the NLC said: “In the past few weeks, we have heard discordant tunes from government officials and chieftains of the ruling APC on what the future portends for the prices of petroleum products and the management of the subsidy scheme.

“Party chieftains who supported and encouraged the massive protests against subsidy removal in 2012 are now preaching the inevitability of subsidy removal. The honourable Minister of State for Petroleum first announced that come next year the price of petrol will revert to ₦97 per litre and that subsidy will be phased out.

“Two days thereafter, he denied this and stated that what he said was that the price will operate within a band of ₦87 to ₦97 and that this did not mean removing the subsidy. The same minister now said that the price of petrol will now be ₦85 in January signifying the deregulation of the sector.

“These vacillations and flip flops are, in our view, designed to confuse Nigerians and pave the way for deregulation of petrol prices through the back door. The fact of the matter is that as long as we continue to depend on imported refined products, deregulation and the abandonment of a subsidy scheme will unleash hardship on Nigerians.

“In any case, according to our laws, the determination of the recommended prices of petroleum products is the responsibility of the Petroleum Products Prices Regulatory Agency (PPPRA). By law, the board of PPPRA is made up of stakeholders.

“None of the contradictory prices the minister is throwing up is a product of the agency. Indeed, the board of the PPPRA has not operated for over two years, although we have made repeated demands for the convening of the board.”

thenation