We feel betrayed’ — NLC demands reversal of petrol price hike

 

Story by Iyiola Ayomide 

On Tuesday, Crimewatchnewspaper observed that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited had increased the price of petrol across its retail outlets.

At an NNPC filling station in the Berger axis of Lagos, the product’s price was increased to N855 per litre—from about N600.

In a statement, Joe Ajaero, the NLC president, said organised labour accepted N70,000 as minimum wage in July due to the government’s promise not to increase the petrol price.

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“We are filled with a deep sense of betrayal as the federal government clandestinely increases the pump price of PMS,” the NLC statement reads.

“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 as we knew that N70,000 was not sufficient.

“We recall vividly when Mr. President gave us the devil’s alternatives to choose from: either N250,000 as minimum wage (subject to the rise of the pump price between N1,500 and N2,000) or N70,000 (at old PMS rates); we opted for the latter because we could not bring ourselves to accept further punishment on Nigerians.