The Nigeria Labour Congress, on Wednesday, said the continued importation of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, was foisted on the country by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
The congress noted that Nigeria had no business depending on imported petroleum products, stressing that it was the only member of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries still importing petrol.
The NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, stated these in Abuja in an interview with journalists on the sidelines of the 48th National Executive Council meeting of the Medical and Health Workers’ Union of Nigeria.
He called on Nigerians to be ready to fully mobilise and reject the Federal Government’s unfriendly policies by all means if they were implemented in 2022 as proposed.
Wabba stated, “The NLC has remained very consistent in its position about the issue of what we call subsidy. The position of the NLC is that Nigeria has no reason to continue to import refined products for domestic use, particularly PMS, because we’ve also found out that we are the only member country of OPEC that is doing that.
“It’s an imposed policy on Nigeria, and our leaders must find a way and means to get us out of that imposition. We have made this point very clear that because of the devaluation of our currency, it then means that the policy of importation will continue to have a negative impact on consumers.”
Wabba disclosed that the Labour movement would meet on today (Thursday) to review the positions of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Federal Government through the Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, on fuel subsidy.
He warned the government “not to transfer its inefficiency to the Nigerian people by inflicting more pains on the masses in 2022,” saying the proposed N5,000 palliative was not sustainable.
Wabba stated, “That remains the official position of the NLC. But we are going to meet tomorrow (Thursday) and next tomorrow (Friday) at the level of the National Executive Council to also review some of the pronouncements that have been made by the IMF, by the World Bank and even by the Nigerian government through the Minister of Finance.
“There will be an official position of the NLC National Executive Council, which is composed of all our state councils, presidents and general secretaries of our 49 affiliates.
“There will be an official statement and actions that will be lined up to try to do proper engagement to make sure that they don’t impose this policy on Nigerians.
“There are many factors that have not been considered. As I speak, in 49 countries around the world, energy is still subsidised. So, our own is about making the process transparent, which shall be part of the programme.
“It’s still a mystery that despite the fact that diesel and kerosene have been deregulated, the prices have never come down even when the price of crude oil at the international market was almost at zero dollar; the prices never came back; Nigerians must realise that.”
He called on the Federal Ministry of Health to ensure that the amount agreed on in the consolidated health salary structure was captured in the 2022 budget to avoid another round of industrial action in the health sector next year.
The National President, MHWUN, Biobelemoye Josiah, said it was wrong for the government to want to privatise some public health facilities, noting that the union would resist the move.
Copyright PUNCH.
