By Matthew Tabe
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has reiterated its position to resist any attempt to remove subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) otherwise called petrol, without full restoration of the refineries in the country.
It also insists on mobilizing workers ahead of the 2023 general elections to vote for candidates ready to implement economic and social policies that would promote members’ welfare.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 18th edition of NLC Harmattan School holding at the Michael Imodu National Institute For Labour Studies (MINILS) in Ilorin, Kwara State, the President of NLC, Ayuba Wabba, says the movement’s opposition to fuel subsidy removal is an age-long struggle.
“What do you even call subsidy? Subsidy is inefficiency, our inefficiency or inability to refine products. That is what we call subsidy. If we are refining, we should not be talking about subsidy and why can’t we refine?” he asks.
Wabba says although there is nothing bad about subsidy, in Nigeria’s case, it is shrouded in secrecy.
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He further says that the consumption of PMS and all details about it are shrouded in secrecy which is typical of a capitalist economy, adding that in a socialist economy, they look at how to make the people happy, and to remove the stress from the people.
Giving example of the deregulation of diesel supply in the country, Wabba says the cost of diesel has gone up astronomically since the policy was implemented.
“Is it same example you want to set?. All Nigerians should reflect on it. What they call subsidy removal is just increasing the price which has happened in the case of subsidy on kerosene and diesel.
“Is that the same thing we want to apply to PMS? How many people can afford it? These are the very important questions that we need to interrogate. And this is what Labour has been interrogating,” he adds.
Wabba says the NLC is aware that part of the reason for the current petrol scarcity was the problem of high cost of diesel which is affecting owners of petrol tankers used to transport PMS.
“But the bottomline is that we will resist any price increase in the name of removal of subsidy. Let us look at the issue of subsidy. What do we say is the issue of subsidy? Does it only mean price increase? In the case of this, diesel adulteration is still there,” he says.