NLC Expresses Betrayal Over fuel price increase, Citing Broken Promises on Minimum Wage
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has expressed feelings of betrayal by the federal government following Tuesday’s unexpected hike in petrol prices at NNPC Ltd’s fuel stations.
In a statement made available to PulseNets, NLC President Joe Ajaero stated, “One of the reasons for accepting N70,000 as the national minimum wage was the understanding that the pump price of PMS would not be increased, even though we were fully aware that N70,000 was insufficient.”
PulseNets reported that NNPC’s petrol stations nationwide raised the pump price of petrol from approximately N600 to around N897. Although no official explanation for the increase has been provided, the state-owned oil company recently expressed concerns about its ability to maintain the previous petrol price.
NNPC Ltd. remains the sole importer of petrol into Nigeria, and it spends billions of naira each month to subsidize the product.
Ajaero revealed to PulseNets that President Bola Tinubu had offered the NLC two options during the minimum wage negotiations: “either N250,000 as the minimum wage (with the pump price potentially rising to between N1,500 and N2,000) or N70,000 (maintaining the old PMS rate).”
The NLC ultimately chose the latter option, only to be blindsided by Tuesday’s petrol price increase.
“Here we are, barely one month later, with the government yet to begin paying the new minimum wage, confronted by a reality we cannot explain,” Mr. Ajaero said, describing the situation as both “traumatic and nightmarish.”
The NLC president further criticized the government’s handling of the fuel subsidy issue, stating that the labor movement had predicted the challenges, but their concerns were dismissed by officials who accused them of not understanding basic economics.
He also spoke to PulseNets, linking the fuel price increase to what he termed a pattern of betrayal by the government, referencing similar unfulfilled promises regarding electricity tariff hikes.
Mr. Ajaero condemned the government’s broader economic policies, which he said had led to widespread hardship and sparked protests such as the End-Hunger/End Bad Governance demonstrations.
In his conversation with PulseNets, Ajaero accused the government of responding to dissent with repression, including arrests and charges of treason against protesters.
“The clandestine increase in the pump price of petrol is the first among equally sinister policies the government has up its sleeve,” he warned, vowing that the NLC would not be intimidated.
Also Read: Tinubu ‘promises’ to intervene as marketers plan another fuel price increase
The NLC demanded the immediate reversal of the fuel price increase, the release of all those arrested during recent protests, and called on the government to end the indiscriminate detention of citizens.
Furthermore, the NLC insisted on an end to policies that foster hunger and insecurity, electricity tariff hikes, and what it described as the government’s “culture of terror, fear, and lying.”
