NLC Demands Emergency In Oil Downstream Sector

Organised labour on Monday called on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in the downstream arm of the petroleum sector.

The organised labour says its suggestion would be a means of arresting the rising price of petrol.

In addition, it advised the government to enter into a contract with refineries closer home to Nigeria to reduce the freight cost of the product.

President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Dr. Ayuba Wabba, in his reaction to the increase in pump price, asked the federal government to reverse the increase in the fuel price, saying the action is condemnable.

He described the recent increase in the pump price of petrol as a breach of the spirit and content of what the organised labour agreed with the government at the last negotiations over the last fuel price increase.

In a statement, Wabba said the congress had asked its affiliate unions in the petroleum industry for updates on how the federal government had kept to the agreement reached with labour to enable it to decide on the next line of action.

According to him, there is disquiet in the land over the extraordinary level of inflation in the country.

He added that the recent increase in the pump price of fuel has only exacerbated the suffering of the people whose standard of living is dropping by the day.

He said one of the measures NLC is proposing is “for government to declare a state of emergency in our downstream petroleum sector.”

He said that “the government should also demonstrate the will to stamp out the smuggling of petroleum products out of Nigeria. We need to see big-time petroleum smugglers arraigned in the court of law and made to pay for their crimes against the Nigerian people.

“The government has the resources available to it to ensure this economic justice to Nigerians. The question in the minds of many Nigerians is if the government is willing to go headlong against major financiers of the major political parties that are known to the public as the architects of the current national woe.

“We also demand that Nigerians should be carried along on the distribution of refined petroleum products. Information on the distribution of petroleum products to petrol stations should be advertised and made public knowledge. It should not be difficult to establish the average time it takes a petrol station to exhaust its supplies.”

It called on the government to review the entire process of licensing for modular and bigger refineries.

“It is queer to depend on the enterprise of one man to fix Nigeria’s downstream petroleum subsector. The more public and private refineries in play the higher the competition. This would serve end consumers who would benefit from lower prices,” He said.