Bimbola Oyesola and Uche Usim (Abuja)
The Trade Union Congress (TUC) yesterday blamed the incessant increase in the pump price of petrol on Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) failure to provide dollars to the marketers at official rates.
TUC, therefore, called on the government to direct CBN to provide dollars at official rate to importers for the petroleum products.
The TUC President, Quadri Olaleye, also called on the government to return the social services to its original prices.
“Can we really blame the petroleum providers? The CBN used to sell dollars to the providers at official price. It is now the case that the providers are looking for dollars in the open market. It is only natural that they will want to make profit,” he said.
Olaleye said TUC condemned the increase in all social services in Nigeria, noting that for the umpteenth time, the labour centre has complained about the gradual and steady annihilation of Nigeria in the light of government action.
He said, “Like the book by George Orwell, titled “1984”, the government and its agencies have resorted to doing the opposite of what they were set up to do. Government instead of providing welfare are killing the people systematically.
“Increasing Petroleum prices, NEPA Bills, etc. at a time people are losing jobs, businesses are not moving in the light of COVID-19, is to say the least wicked. This takes us to CBN’s role to stabilise the economy, yet, it has continued to do things that distort the economy.”
Meanwhile, Abuja motorists woke up to a rude shock on Thursday morning to discover that oil marketers had adjusted their pumps from the N149.80k a litre to N161/litre.
The development was particularly disheartening as the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC) had announced that the product would be selling at N151.56k per litre.
A PPMC official, D.O Abalaka, in a statement said: “Please be informed that a new product price adjustment has been effected on our payment platform.
“To this end, the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) is N151.56k per litre. “This takes effect from September 2, 2020.”
