Trade Union Congress (TUC) has called on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to grant the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) a special foreign exchange rate to reduce the cost of petrol importation and subsequently lower fuel prices.
Gatekeepers News reports that TUC President Festus Osifo stated on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme that with a special forex rate of about ₦1000/$, instead of the official rate of ₦1,600/$, fuel prices can drop to around ₦600 from its current pump price of over ₦900.
Osifo, also the President of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), said the real problem is not subsidy removal but the devaluation of the naira by the current administration.
“The ultimate elephant in the room is devaluation,” he stated.
He explained that if the naira was not devaluated simultaneously with the removal of petrol subsidy last year, petrol would be selling at around ₦350. Osifo also noted that subsidy is still being shouldered on petrol by the NNPCL despite the fresh adjustment of petrol pump price.
“If you give a special rate to NNPC, you don’t need to pay for subsidy anymore,” he said. “The same special rate that was given to Dangote (Refinery) to sell, a special rate was given… So, that special rate should be given in that sector.”
Osifo warned that if the government does not take immediate action, the effect of the fresh hike in petrol prices will reverberate across the country, with attendant job losses and companies folding up.
He said the organs of the TUC would meet to decide the way forward should the government fail to revert petrol prices to around ₦600.
