The six-page letter is jointly signed by NLC President Ayuba Wabba and General-Secretary Emmanuel Ugboaja with following bullet points:
‘We write to draw the attention of Your Excellency to the recent proposal by the Federal Government to increase the pump price of the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) also known as petrol anytime from now.
‘It is the well-considered view of Nigerian workers as conveyed through the leadership of Organised Labour in Nigeria that the proposed hike, if it goes through, would induce and impose an unprecedented degree of hardship on Nigerian workers, their families and the generality of the populace. The net and multiplier effects of such socio-economic dislocation especially with regards to a decent standard of living, productivity and national security are better imagined than experienced.
“The Federal Government should demonstrate seriousness and commitment to overhauling our local refineries as a lasting panacea to mass importation of refined petroleum products, importation pricing model, and a host of lost opportunities, official corruption and self-inflicted dislocations occasioned by mass importation of refined petroleum products into Nigeria.
“Governments at all levels in Nigeria should take immediate steps to improve governance and public accountability in order to regain the confidence of Nigerians that the cardinal constitutional mandate of guaranteeing the welfare and security of Nigerians has not been traded off. Nigerian workers understand that government pays out significant amount of money as petrol subsidy.
“Nigerian workers also appreciate the fact that the monies spent on petrol subsidy would be totally unnecessary if government is alive to its responsibilities of proper management of critical national assets, especially our local refineries.
“It is the mismanagement of our four public oil refineries over the years by successive governments that has opened the floodgates of mass importation of refined petroleum products and consequently, unfurled incessant increases in the prices of refined petroleum products in Nigeria.
“The fact is very clear, there is no way a country can control the price of what it does not produce.
“For a critical national security product like petrol and other refined petroleum derivatives, the situation is akin to handing over our national sovereignty to other climes. There is no better description of neo-colonialism and toxic neo-liberalism than this.
“The situation has remained the same for nearly two years now as government treats inquiries and promptings by the organized labour with levity, disdain and contempt.
“This is why Nigerian workers were completely taken aback by the sudden proposal by government to increase the pump price of petrol. Coincidentally and curiously, the declaration by the Nigerian government to increase the pump price of petrol came a few days after the same demand was made by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
“Clearly, the Nigerian government is more interested in listening to foreign vested interests than engaging with the Nigerian people.
“Organized Labour in Nigeria as a responsible social partner, is willing and ready to work with government to find enduring solutions to the crisis in Nigeria’s downstream petroleum sector and other areas of challenge in governance.
‘Nigerian workers also appreciate the fact that the monies spent on the so-called petrol subsidy would be totally unnecessary if the government is alive to its responsibilities of proper management of critical national assets, especially our local refineries. “It is the mismanagement of our four public oil refineries over the years by successive governments that have opened the floodgates of mass importation of refined petroleum products and consequently unfurled incessant increases in the prices of refined petroleum products in Nigeria.
The fact is very clear – there is no way a country can control the price of what it does not produce. For a critical national security product like petrol and other refined petroleum derivatives, the situation is akin to handing over our national sovereignty to other climes. There is no better description of neo-colonialism and toxic neo-liberalism than this,’
“The challenge with the Importation Price Model for refined petroleum products is that apart from being a clog in the wheel of industrialisation and self-actualisation, it also constitutes a grave national security threat. Crude oil and its derivatives just like other strategic national assets have precipitated international wars as countries are very keen to protect their petroleum industry as it is a key that opens multiple doors of industrial, economic and social development.
This is the reason, virtually all the OPEC countries retain national oil corporations which oversee their hydrocarbons assets. We are amiss why the Nigerian governments choose to outsource our God-given hydrocarbon resource to a few individuals and foreign interests.
“The same logic applies to the encouragement of private refineries at the detriment of public refineries.
While Nigerian workers welcome the investment by the Nigerian private sector in the building of new refineries, we are also cautious to note that the overarching goal of private investment is profit maximisation. Given the massive size of investments in private refineries in Nigeria, there are well-founded fears that the absence of optimally performing public refineries would eliminate competition and open the doors for monopolies and cartels at a debilitating expense for the ordinary Nigerian. Government has a duty to ensure that this does not happen.
“Currently, under the Importation Price Model for refined petroleum products, Nigerians are being forced to pay for all manner of acquired and transferred costs. These costs include the profit margin of foreign oil refineries, taxes paid by foreign oil companies, international shipping and logistics costs, product handling costs at the ports, demurrage charges, and import duties on imported petroleum products. Ultimately, all these costs are transferred to the end consumer even as the government pays a fraction of this cost as the so-called petrol subsidy. Apart from inflicting very harsh financial blows on the pocket of ordinary Nigerians, the retention of the Importation Price Model also fleeces the government of scarce hard-earned revenue.
“All these price distortions and inflation acquired in the process of mass importation of petrol, including the corollary implication of mass export of potential jobs and mass import of poverty, would be automatically eliminated once our local refineries are made to work at full installed capacity and we revert from the suicidal Importation Price Model to a more realistic, humane and sustainable Local Production Price Template.
The other advantages of the local refining include the creation of mass decent jobs both directly and indirectly from new investments by both government and the private sector in the downstream petroleum industry,’
“The current protest holding nationwide on January 27, 2022 ,is only geared at alerting government on the sufferings that Nigerians are going through and the additional insufferable trauma that Nigerians would be subjected to if the government goes ahead with the hike in the price of refined petroleum products.
“From our foregoing submissions, there is no reason Nigeria, like other nations of the world, should not utilize the comparative advantage of crude oil which is our domineering foreign exchange earner as a strategic national asset for improving the lots of the Nigerian workers and the ordinary citizens of our great country.
“We plead that Your Excellency should use your position as a member of the National Economic Council to convey our foregoing persuasions and demands to the Federal Government. We also warn that Nigerian workers would have no other choice than to down tools once the government goes ahead to force another round of petrol price increment on Nigerians. Nigerians have suffered enough. Enough is Enough!
“We also warn that Nigerian workers would have no other choice than to down tools once the government goes ahead to force another round of petrol price increment on Nigerians. Nigerians have suffered enough.”