The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has rejected the latest increase in the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), describing the development as avoidable and unacceptable amid the worsening cost-of-living crisis.
Politics Nigeria reports that the labour centre also questioned the Federal Government’s handling of crude oil supplies to the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, arguing that greater access to locally produced crude could help strengthen domestic refining and moderate fuel prices.
The NLC Acting General Secretary, Benson Upah, stated this on Tuesday while reacting to the latest adjustment in petrol prices.
Upah warned that the increase would place additional pressure on workers and low-income Nigerians already struggling with soaring transportation, food and other household expenses.
“This adds to the increasing difficulties of the average Nigerian for whom life has been Hobbesian,” he said.
The labour leader said the latest price adjustment was difficult to justify given the prevailing developments in the international oil market and Nigeria’s expanding domestic refining capacity.
According to him, the Federal Government should be doing more to ensure that the Dangote refinery has sufficient access to Nigerian crude.
“The latest increase is avoidable and unacceptable in light of falling prices in the international market and our local capacity to sell more crude oil to Dangote. Why are we not doing so?” Upah asked.
It is understood that the NLC’s position followed another upward adjustment in the refinery’s petrol gantry price, which has renewed concerns among motorists, transport operators and businesses over rising operating costs.
Recall that the Dangote refinery increased its gantry price by N65 per litre on Saturday, from N1,200 to N1,265.
The latest adjustment came just three days after the refinery had raised the price from N1,185 to N1,200 per litre.
The refinery has now adjusted its petrol price three times within eight days. On August 21, its gantry price moved from N1,165 to N1,185 per litre.
Taken together, the three adjustments have increased the refinery’s gantry price by N100 per litre, representing an 8.6 per cent rise within the eight-day period.
The impact has begun to filter through the downstream petroleum market, with pump prices differing across locations as marketers factor transportation, logistics and distribution expenses into the cost of the product.
Petrol prices have reportedly risen to around N1,310 per litre in parts of Lagos and Ogun, while some locations in the northern region and areas farther from the refinery are recording prices of N1,350 or more.
In some markets, pump prices are nearing N1,400 per litre.
The development comes more than three years after the Federal Government removed the petrol subsidy in 2023, a policy shift that fundamentally changed Nigeria’s fuel pricing structure.
Since then, consumers have been increasingly exposed to fluctuations in crude oil prices, foreign exchange movements, distribution costs and other market forces.
Repeated petrol price increases have also continued to feed into transportation costs, with consequential effects on the prices of food, goods and services.
Recently, President Bola Tinubu affirmed his pledge that Nigeria’s moribund refineries will be revived and repositioned to operate profitably, saying the Federal Government would no longer allow the facilities to waste away after decades of investment.
Tinubu made the commitment when he received the national executive of the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), led by its National President, Comrade Salimon Akanni Oladiti, at the State House last month.
