the Nigerian Labor Congress (NLC) Y Trade Union Congress (TUC) have claimed that the current fuel shortage in Nigeria is caused by Downstream retail companies “increasing the price well above the threshold approved by the government”.
This was revealed in a statement signed by the unions urging FG to put an end to the problems.
They warned that non-state actors should not have the ability to influence a necessary energy need.
There is no excuse good enough: NLC and TUC chairmen Mr Ayuba Wabba and Mr Festus Osifo said there is no good enough reason to explain the fuel shortage Nigerians are facing.
They expressed their dismay at the persistent shortages and uncontrollable prices that downstream players in the oil industry were imposing on Nigerians.
- “No excuse is good enough to paralyze the country. If there are challenges, they must be corrected. We have a government in power to fix challenges, not to make excuses.” they said.
The economic consequences: They added that the persistent shortage of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also called gasoline, has tragic consequences for the Nigerian people and debilitating effects on the health of the economy, which itself is not in a good state.
- “We are reliably informed that the shortage is deliberately fostered by downstream sector players in others to increase the price well above the government-approved threshold.
- “It is an additional problem when non-state actors begin to arrogate the power to determine the price of a liter of fuel well above the rate set by the government in the current subsidy regime.”
They also revealed that the Nigerian people and taxpayers currently spend trillions of Naira annually to subsidize gasoline, citing that the same people could not be exploited and forced to pay more than N240 per liter when the current price on deposit was N148.19k per liter. , warning the benefits of the subsidy regime have been gradually eroding.
If you missed it: Nairametrics previously reported that NNPC disclosed the reasons behind the queues. According to the company, “Recent queues in Lagos are due in large part to ongoing road infrastructure projects around Apapa and access road challenges in some parts of the Lagos deposits.”
However, NNPC noted that the bottleneck is easing as NNPC has scheduled ships and trucks for unrestricted deposits, and bulk loading of deposits to various states is closely monitored.