No increase in petrol price until after labour, FG negotiations – NNPC

THE Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has restated its position that there will be no increase in the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), better known as petrol, until the end of the negotiations between organised labour and the Federal Government.

The NNPC spokesperson, Dr Kennie Obateru, gave this assurance in a statement today.

This came hours after the NNPC General Managing Director (GMD), Mele Kyari said the corporation could no longer afford to bear the cost of subsidy, saying Nigerians would have to pay the actual cost sooner or later.

Kyari argued that market forces must be allowed to determine the pump price of petrol in the country.

Although he claimed the nation was not in a subsidy regime, the NNPC boss said the government was trying to exit what he described as ‘under-price sale of PMS’.

Obateru had earlier in the month, before Kyari’s declaration yesterday, said the government was not contemplating any increment in the retail price of PMS.

He said this in reaction to the oil marketers’ insistence that selling at the current price of N162-N163/litre was commercially suicidal because the current landing cost is about N174 per litre.

Obateru said that such decision would scuttle the government’s ongoing engagements with organised labour and other stakeholders on an acceptable framework for fuel pricing in the country.

The organised Labour had also kicked against the suspected move by government to increase the pump price, wit the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, President Ayuba Wabba declaring:

“Nigerians… cannot bear it (the cost of petrol hike) because they are so impoverished that they can’t also bear the inefficiency of our system for these numbers of years.

“We are the only member of the Operation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) that is importing refined products. It is because of the inefficiency of governments – both past and present – that we are not able to fix our refineries.

“For sure, many people have been pushed below the poverty line. Not only that, anytime you increase the price of petrol, prices of goods and services will go up and not only that, the purchasing powers of many Nigerians will also be eroded. It is between the devil and the deep blue sea.”

“There must be a way to make sure that Nigerians don’t suffer the consequences of what they have not bargained for. Those are the clear issues i think should come out of these conventions.

“You are aware that economies around the world – including that of Nigeria – just came out of recession and many businesses are not doing well or they have closed and many individuals, including workers, have been pushed almost to the wall.

“The consequences of fuel price hike will be so grievous, it will bring about instability, insecurity because where families can’t take care of their needs you should know also that everybody will be on their own and it will lead to some social consequences.

“We will not accept a situation where the burden will now be shifted from the government to Nigerians. We have submitted a document to point out that 159 countries still subsidise energy in this challenging period.

“Government must find means to make sure that we don’t transfer this inefficiency to the Nigerian public.”