Tag: PMS

Fuel scarcity bites harder as MOMAN jerks pump price to N185 per litre

There is no respite for Lagos residents over the lingering fuel scarcity as Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) has increased the price of petrol to N185 per litre without official notification.

Fuel scarcity persisted on Friday as long queues disrupted traffic flow resulting to gridlocks across the Lagos metropolis.

Some of the stations visited like Mobil, Conoil, TotalEnergies, Nipco, Enyo, Forte and NORTH-WEST had adjusted their pump price to reflect N185 per litre against N169 previously.

Motorists in Lagos who queued for several hours at filling stations operated by major marketers were shocked to notice the adjustment of the pump price.

Many major filling stations in Lagos metropolis, especially Ikeja and Agege areas were not dispensing, only a few stations were dispensing while motorists scrambled to fill their cars.

The stations dispensing at Mobolaji Bank Anthony, Grammar School, Berger were NNPCL station and Bovas along Ogunnusi/Isheri road.

Also, Mobil filling station at Agidingbi-Ikeja started selling with queues extending to Fela Shrine from Ashabi Cole Crescent/CIPM Avenue road.

It was also observed that some independent filling stations were selling between N260 and N270 per litre along Ikorodu, Somolu, Bariga, Ikotun and Akran, Awolowo road.

Some marketers who preferred anonymity told NAN that the federal government had begun the subsidy withdrawal, urging marketers to adjust their pump price.

The marketers claimed that government may have commenced a gradual removal of the petrol subsidy.

However, efforts to get reactions from MOMAN and Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) was unsuccessful as key marketers’ associations were still considering an appropriate pump price.

A source who declined to be mentioned said, “Marketers have been officially directed to change the pump price of petrol.

“Go to stations operated by major marketers you will confirm what I have told you.

“But I think it shouldn’t be above N185 a litre. I can tell you too that depot owners are not expected to raise their prices but they have been asked to recover their costs by adjusting their prices.”

The cost of fuel pump increased from N87 per litre as of December 2015 to N165.77 by December 2021, which is an increase of 90.54 per cent, according to the Fuel Pump Price Per Litre – Average (PMS) data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Mr Mike Osatuyi, the National Operations Controller of IPMAN, said his members were still waiting for the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd. (NNPCL) to fulfill its part of the agreement reached at the meeting by supplying them fuel directly instead of the present arrangement where they had to buy from a “third party.”

Osatuyi regretted that despite the change of leadership at the NNPCL retail arm, the situation had remained the same.

“We reached an agreement with NNPCL for direct fuel supply since last month, but up till now, we are yet to get the supply.

“We are still buying from private depots who sell the product to us at N230 per litre and by the time it reaches our stations it is at N250 per litre.

“So, we cannot sell at government regulated price because we don’t even get it at regulated price,” he explained.

According to Osatuyi, supply issues are yet to be resolved and that is why the major marketers are not selling regularly.

Besides, Osatuyi said some of the filling stations selling at the regulated price of N180 per litre were only putting up an appearance in the public, whereas behind the scene, from their depots, they sold the commodity to private marketers at N220 per litre.

“That is why some of them don’t have fuel to sell in their stations as they would have made more money selling to the independent marketers at a higher price,” he said.

He regretted the situation IPMAN found itself because its members were not comfortable selling fuel at N250 or more per litre, but that their hands were tied as they could not run at a loss.

“Even some of our members are wondering if we have compromised on this issue because they cannot believe that by now NNPCL would not have started selling fuel to us at the official price as agreed in that meeting,” he said.

Osatuyi has assured that the group will confirm to Nigerians when NNPCL starts dispensing fuel to its members at the official price and Nigerians should expect reduced price of PMS if NNPCL fulfills its promise of direct supply to his members.

“This is what we have been clamouring for because IPMAN has been buying petrol for N220 from private depots in this period.

“Whereas NNPCL supplies the product to depots at N113 per litre, while depots sell at N148.17 per litre and filling stations sell at the regulated price of N170 to N180 per litre.

“Instead of selling to IPMAN at the approved N148.17 per litre, as they used to do before, private depots were selling to us at N220 per litre, so how could we have sold to the public at N170 per litre?” Osatuyi asked..

Mr Clement Isong, the Executive Secretary of MOMAN refused to answer questions on the pump price increase.

Isong said despite the volume that the NNPCL was supplying, the demand for the product kept rising, suggesting there was increase in demand from states.

On why the demand for petrol is high, he said, “I don’t know but I suspect that it is cross-border demand that has gone up.”

Efforts to get the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and NNPCL to comment proved abortive as both refused to pick their calls and respond to messages.

January 20, 2023
NMDPRA seals filling stations for selling PMS above regulated price

Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Osogbo, on Thursday, sealed eight filling stations in the state for allegedly selling premium motor spirit (PMS) above the government-approved pump price.

NMDPRA Coordinator in Osun, Mr Kunle Adeyemo, said this after the agency’s routine surveillance of filling stations in Osogbo, the state capital.

Adeyemo said that the surveillance was aimed at sensitising the public that the pump price of petrol, as approved by the Federal Government, had not changed.

He said that the surveillance operation would continue on a daily basis until all marketers within the state reverted to the government-approved price for PMS.

“We are out basically because prices of fuel are getting erratic and we are trying to tell the people that there is a specific price for petroleum and government has not changed it.

“We want to ensure that every filling station in the state adheres strictly to the official price of between N179 and N180 per litre,” he said.

Adeyemo said that the affected filling stations were sealed for selling above the official pump rice.

He said that the agency would continue to work round the clock to ensure that the masses were not in any way cheated by petroleum marketers.

The NMDPRA coordinator appealed to the general public to always report sharp practices by petroleum marketers at the agency’s office in Osogbo for appropriate action.

January 5, 2023
Fuel scarcity: Why pump price of petrol skyrocketed – Suppliers

The Natural Oil and Gas Suppliers Association of Nigeria (NOGASA ) says scarcity and high price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) are caused by many challenges especially high price of Automative Gas Oil (AGO).

The association said the AGO, commonly called diesel was the major cause of unavailability of PMS because diesel was being purchased by its transporters at high cost to fuel their trucks without profit.

Mr Benneth Korie, the National President of the association made this known on Monday in Abuja while addressing newsmen.

Diesel is currently sold between N850 to N900 per litre at the filling stations against the N170 some months ago.

“We use diesel too to move all petroleum products, the vessels carry diesel too, we use diesel to operate the filling stations and depots, all these contribute a lot to the scarcity because of its high cost.

“If diesel is brought down to N170 as it used to be, then PMS will be sold at a lower price. Subsidy on diesel should be even better than on PMS,” he said.

Korie said the marketers were not happy selling above N200 per litre because of high cost of getting fuel to the stations but had no choice because it was the only way they could assist Nigerians to ensure product availability.

“All our products are being imported, we use vessel to bring in products to the depot which is costly and currently the depot owners are paying close to 85,000 dollars per day to bring in products.

“If you calculate it, including the cost of running the depot and taking products to filling stations, then Nigerians will consider the amount spent and understand better,” he said.

On the persistent scarcity and queues experienced in Abuja and environs, Korie said it was caused by bad roads which was another serious challenge that hampered trucks from distributing products.

“The Port Harcourt to Abuja road, is so bad that marketers and transporters are loosing profit daily. If the road could be fixed, it will help the distributors and the situation will improve.

“70 per cent of the delay in getting the products to stations is caused by bad roads, while forex contributes 95 per cent of the cost of importation.

“We use dollars to pay for shipment, port authority and Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA). So When talking about what it costs to bring these products Nigerians should also consider other things but not just price.

“Marketers need to make profit in the business but no amount you sell the product would be good for Nigeria. The issue is not about price or cost but availability and distribution of the product,” he said.

He said the prices being sold at the filling stations vary because major marketers got from the NNPC Ltd. while the independent marketers got from others.

According to him, they are all Marketers but the price depends on how they get the product.

He confirmed that the intervention of the Department of State Service (DSS) has really helped to make it easy.

The briefing was on the backdrop of lingered queues and scarcity of fuel, challenges importers and marketers face as well as intervention of the DSS.

December 20, 2022
Fuel scarcity will soon be over – NMDPRA assures

The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has assured Nigerians that the prevailing fuel crisis ravaging various parts of the country would soon disappear.

Its Coordinator in Delta, Mr Victor Ohwodiasa, gave the assurance when he led a team of the regulatory authority on an unscheduled inspection visit to some petroleum depots at Ifiekporo, on Thursday evening and Friday in Delta State.

Ohwodiasa said that a lot of vessels laden with Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) known as Petrol were already coming into the state.

He said the regulatory authority would ensure that the vessels discharge products as quickly as possible.

“We will ensure that the depots receiving these products lift them out to the end users. By the time we have all the depots wet with PMS and they are lifting regularly, the looming scarcity we are experiencing will disappear,” Ohwodiasa said.

The agency’s coordinator said essence of the visit was to ensure that depots with the products dispensed to licenced retail outlets, eliminate middle men and also avoid diversion.

“Once we get our daily manifest, we send our men out to make sure that those trucks gets to their actual locations.

“There might be one or two infractions; we have apprehended about two persons for product diversion and they were made to face the full wrath of the law.

“As a regulatory authority, saddled with the responsibility of regulating the Midstream and Downstream of the Oil and Gas sector in Nigeria, we will continue to do what we need to do.

“This is to ensure that the products are available and adequately and fairly distributed within Delta and neighboring states,” he said.

Ohwodiasa said the NMDPRA would carry out intensed routine surveillance, adding that it would sustain the tempo to ensure that the right things were done in the Midstream and Downstream sector of the oil and gas industry.

He, however, urged people to stop panic buying, assuring that the Federal Government was doing everything possible to ensure availability of petroleum products in the country, particularly during the Yuletide season and beyond.

Ohwodiasa added that NMDPRA would ensure that the products get to the consumers at the right price, quality and quantity.

Among the depots visited were: Matrix Energy Group, Pinnacle Oil and Gas Ltd. and AYM Shafa Ltd.

Speaking on behalf of the Matrix Energy, Mr Francis Ibe, the Terminal Manager, Matrix Energy, said that the PMS stock level at the Warri Depot was 14 million litres on Thursday.

Ibe said as at evening of Thursday, it had trucked out over four million litres.

“With what I am pushing out, I know it will not be enough. Before now on weekly basis, we were receiving 40 million litres of PMS, but at the moment, we barely received 40 million in two weeks. So you can see the difference.

“Fourty million litres in one week as against receiving one vessels in two weeks cannot solve the problem. There is a serious supply gap,” Ibe said.

Also, Mr Luke Nnajieze, the Depot Manager, Pinnacle Oil and Gas, Warri Depot, said that the current stock level of the company in Warri as at Thursday morning was
3.1 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).

Nnajieze added that the Automated Gasoline Oil (AGO) was 2.9 million litres. At the moment, we are out of stock of Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK).

“On daily basis, we trucked 2.5 million litres to 3 million litres of PMS,” he said.

Nnajieze identified heavy vehicular gridlock as a major challenge confronting their business in the area, calling on the government to assist in expanding or fixing the bad access road.

He also called for the dredging of the Escravos Bar to allow bigger vessels to navigate and bring in petroleum products.

December 2, 2022
Fuel queues: We have PMS stock of over 2 billion litres – NNPC

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) has blamed the fuel queues in Lagos State and Abuja on some construction projects going on in the state.

NNPC’s Executive Vice President, Downstream, Mister Adeyemi Adetunju, gave this explanation while addressing a news conference in Abuja yesterday.

“The recent queues in Lagos are largely due to ongoing road infrastructure projects around Apapa and access road challenges in some parts of Lagos depots,” he said. “The gridlock is easing out and NNPC has programmed vessels and trucks to unconstrained depots and massive load outs from depots to various states are closely being monitored.”

“Abuja is impacted by the challenges recorded in Lagos. NNPC Retail and key marketers have intensified dedicated loading into Abuja to restore normalcy as soon as possible.”

But he assured Nigerians that efforts are ongoing to ensure that normalcy returns as soon as possible.

“We want to reassure all Nigerians that NNPC has sufficient products, and we significantly increased product loading including 24-hour operations in selected depots and extended hours at strategic stations to ensure products sufficiency nationwide,” he assured.

“We are also working with the NMDPRA, MOMAN, DAPPMAN, IPMAN, NARTO, PTD, and other industry stakeholders to ensure normalcy is returned.”

The NNPC, he added, has a “national PMS stock of over 2 billion litres. This is equivalent to over 30 days of sufficiency”.

November 30, 2022
Why Nigerians are experiencing fuel scarcity – IPMAN

The Independent Petroleum Association of Nigeria (lPMAN) has attributed the current fuel scarcity to the unavailability of petroleum products and difficulty in accessing foreign exchange by marketers.

Mr Mike Osatuyi, the Operations Controller of lPMAN, who made the remarks in an interview in Lagos on Sunday, said it had become necessary to inform the general public that the lingering scarcity of petrol was due to the unavailability of the product.

He alleged that the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Ltd., had stopped importing enough petrol to meet demand in the country.

Osatuyi was emphatic that marketers could no longer sell at the regulated price because the unsteady supply of petrol had resulted in higher prices at the depots.

“We are experiencing scarcity because the product is not available. The price of a litre of petrol at private depots is currently between N205 and N210 as against N162.50.

“The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Ltd., is the sole importer of refined petroleum products, which are not readily available to marketers,” he said.

Osatuyi explained that his members bought petrol at over N200 per litre from private depots, making it impossible for them to sell at a regulated pump price.

“Besides, such trend is unsustainable given the fact that private depots also sell the product at unofficial rate different from that of NNPCL.

“When we add cost of transportation and levies, it will run into N217 per litre. At what prices do you want marketers to sell, knowing fully well that we are in business to make profit?

“My members are groaning over increase in cost of petrol from depot and they suffer a lot to get it.

“If fuel is there why will we not sell, but there is no fuel. Our members are selling petrol between N230 and N240 per litre at filling stations,” he added.

Osatuyi said government was finding it difficult to continue subsidiasing the price of petrol and advised that the downstream of the petroleum sector be fully deregulated as a permanent solution to the problem.

He urged the government to allow the private sector to import petrol as is the case with aviation fuel, diesel and kerosene.

He urged government to remove the monopoly of importation and pronounce total deregulation of the downstream sector.

Collaborating Osatuyi’s views, a marketer, who preferred not to be mentioned, told NAN that NNPCL was having challenges of importing refined product due to liquidity constraints.

According to the marketer, all marketers; IPMAN, Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) and Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN) are struggling to get products from NNPCL, the sole supplier.

The marketers said scarcity of foreign exchange also posed a serious challenge, and that the Direct Purchase and Direct Supply (DPDS) option had crashed.

“Nigeria has reached a stage where government requested for credit facility from DSDP people on product supply but it was challenged due to huge backlog of debts.

“The NNPCL partners who were given crude oil to supply refined products could not access credit from banks due to existing huge debts,” said the marketer.

According to him, the high rate of forex currently at N800 to a dollar also posed a serious challenge to importation.

He said, “Talking about Lagos, that is where most of the (PMS) vessels come. When the mother vessel comes into the state, its products will be distributed by daughter vessels to ports in Lagos, Warri, Port Harcourt, etc.

“These daughter vessels are hired by independent private tank farm owners or private depot owners, who pay vessel charges in dollars.

“Some of them source dollars in the open market. So, the dollar also determines the price of products.

“Now, you cannot expect them to sell PMS at N184/litre when the price of hiring a vessel has risen from 38,000 dollars to around 108,000 dollars to 111,000 dollars, depending on the type of vessel. These charges are paid in dollars.”

He added that the cost of chartering daughter vessels to move products from the mother vessel to the Private Depot Owners (PDOs) has jumped within months due to issues around the hike in diesel cost, foreign exchange concerns and other industry problems.

“The products are moved to PDOs in Port Harcourt, Warri, Calabar, Lagos, etc, and by the time NNPC gives depot allocations, it becomes their responsibility to charter vessels that will take the products from the mother vessel to the depots.

“So, that lack of purchasing power in terms of sourcing dollars to evacuate products from the mother vessel, and absence of vessels to move products due to the hike in hiring cost also contributed to ghost scarcity of PMS across states.

“Ghost scarcity means scarcity that appears and disappears. You may be going to work in the morning and everywhere will be clear, but in the evening you will see queues,” the marketer stated.

He said the ex-depot price had gone above N205 per litre due to insufficient volume of petrol to supply the entire market by NNPCL.

According to the marketer, many DAPPMAN members have closed shop because NNPCL is unable to cope with the demand of petrol and most of the product is channel to neighbouring countries.

“About 50 per cent of the product is leaving the country, NNPC does not have any money to subsidise the entire West Africa, which is not realistic because they do not have money.

“The best option and the way out is to deregulate the downstream sector, but currently, government cannot deregulate because it’s election period,” said the marketer.

November 28, 2022
Fuel scarcity in parts of Nigeria will end soon – IPMAN assures

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), has assured that fuel scarcity currently being experienced in parts of the country would soon end.

Flooding and impassable roads have prevented haulage trucks to distribute petroleum products to, particularly parts of the north in the last two weeks leading to the scarcity.

“Following the flooding, major roads being used by marketers have gone bad making truck drivers to spend up to nine days, especially around Koton Karfe in Kogi before reaching their destinations.

“Rods that have also gone bad in Niger are Bida-Lemu-Zungeru, Minna-Tagina-Makonkele, Tegina-Mokwa-Makera-Minna and Lambata-Lapai-Agaie-Bida,’’ IPMAN stated in Kano.

Its Chairman (Northern Zone), Alhaji Bashir Danmalam stated that 200 trucks of petroleum products were already heading to Abuja and other parts from Calabar.

He explained that the trucks would go through Ikom and Ogoja in Cross River, to Katsina-Ala and Vandeikya in Benue and to Lafia, where the floods and receded, then to Abuja.

He commended the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company for pledging to support haulage firms with diesel to cushion the cost and to facilitate fuel distribution.

He noted that the Federal Road Safety Corps was also doubling efforts to clear the roads of broken-down vehicles to ensure smooth passage of the fuel-laden trucks leaving Calabar

Danmalam stated also that the haulage firms had received assurances that contractors had been mobilised to attend to the damaged portions of the roads to ease passage.

October 9, 2022
Why fuel scarcity in Abuja may persist longer than expected

Indications have emerged that the ongoing fuel scarcity being experienced in Abuja, the federal capital territory (FCT), may persist longer than expected.

TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports that the current fuel scarcity in the FCT is caused by flooding at Koton Karfe in Kogi State.

Koton Karfe is a community between the FCT and Lokoja where floods had been wreaking havoc lately. The floods in the area have submerged a greater part of Koton Karfe and Lokoja and have also grounded vehicular movement.

Alternative roads to get to the FCT are damaged and ridden with potholes making it difficult to get to the federal capital, the Association of Distributors and Transporters of Petroleum Products (ADITOP) has disclosed.

The Association described the situation as frustrating, stressing that the solution was to hasten the reconstruction of the damaged Lambata-Lapai-Agaie-Bida Road in Niger which serves as an alternative route.

President of ADITOP, Alhaji Lawan Dan-Zaki, speaking in Abuja on Saturday said the failed roads, which posed difficulties for truck drivers to ply, would have served as alternative routes for use by petroleum products transporters.

“Many of our trucks are loaded with petroleum products but cannot go through the flood area freely, while the empty ones cannot return to load products.

“We have two big rivers in Nigeria – River Niger which links Northwest and Southwest Nigeria and River Benue, which affects Lokoja and Eastern parts of the country.

“The bad roads are a challenge to the Federal Ministry of Works, so we appeal to the Federal Government to hasten work on alternative roads.

“This is imperative because our truck drivers spend 10 days while going through the damaged Lapai-Agai-Bida Road and another 10 days while returning to depots,” he said.

Dan-Zaki also lamented the frustration faced by truck drivers hauling petroleum products across the country.

“Lapai-Agai-Bida Road linking the southern part of the country to take products from Lagos is completely damaged. Lokoja Road which we have been managing to transport products from the eastern parts is submerged by flood.

“It is also difficult to take the eastern road carrying products from Calabar-Oghara-Port Harcourt-Warri because the road is bad and truck drivers spend more than a week in trucks queues,” he said.

Dan-Zaki also said that truck drivers usually avoided Mokwa Road through Kaduna because of insecurity, adding that drivers were being kidnapped on that route.

He urged the Ministry of Works and Housing and the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) to fix the damaged roads

“We are appealing to the Federal Government to ensure that the ministry and FERMA do the needful to avoid recurrence of fuel scarcity,’’ he stressed.

The ADITOP president said the NNPC Ltd. had discharged its function by importing sufficient petroleum, but damaged and poor road network and flooding had made it difficult for trucks to distribute the products.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority has said measures were being put in place to truck petroleum products via alternative routes to mitigate the fuel scarcity.

Reacting to the development, Mr Moshood Samotu, Controller, Federal Ministry of Works and Housing in Niger, said work was ongoing on the Lambata-Lapai-Agaie-Bida Road.

He said the contractor had been ordered to begin palliative work on soft sections.

He explained that torrential rains had been hindering the movement of articulated vehicles through the soft sections, thereby causing gridlock between Agaie and to Badegi towns.

He said 51 per cent of reconstruction work on the Lambata-Lapai-Agaie-Bida Road had been achieved as of September.

He added that the restriction of articulated vehicles from using Bida–Minna Road by the Niger government diverted all Lagos and Abuja-bound articulated vehicles to the Lambata-Lapai-Bida Road.

Samotu said the high traffic volume hampered smooth operations at the construction site, causing slow progress of work.

“The Lokoja-Abuja Road is under gridlock, a development that diverted vehicles to Lambata-Lapai Road.

“The Lambata-Lapai section has been completed to an appreciable level, but the Bida-Agaie-Lapai section of the road is still under reconstruction,” Samotu said.

October 8, 2022
Why Abuja is experiencing fuel scarcity

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Limited) has disclosed that the current fuel queues situation being experienced in some parts of Abuja and its environs was a result of delays in the arrival of fuel trucks.

TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports that NNPC Limited made this known on Thursday while informing the public that it has sufficient stock of petroleum products and that the public should not give in to panic buying.

The company in a statement on Thursday by Garba Muhammad, Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, NNPC Limited said this was happening as a result of heavy flooding that had submerged parts of the highway passing through Lokoja, Kogi.

He also said that an incidence of a failed road section around Badegi-Agaie highway in Niger State also contributed.

“Consequently, vehicles, especially fuel tankers, are finding alternative roads to get to their intended destinations. NNPC Ltd is working assiduously, in collaboration with relevant government agencies, to open up this major highway.

“While we do that, we urge the general public to remain calm and not to engage in panic buying of petroleum products,” he advised.

According to him, the current situation is temporary and has nothing to do with shortage of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) as the NNPC Ltd has a thirty-day products’ sufficiency.

October 6, 2022
NLC reiterates position on removal of petrol subsidies

The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has reiterated its position on the removal of petrol subsidies, saying that it has not changed.

The NLC President, Mr Ayuba Wabba, said this in a statement signed and made available to newsmen on Saturday in Abuja.

It would be recalled that Mr Festus Keyamo,(SAN) Minister of State for Labour and Employment had tasked the NLC to come out clean on its stand on the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi’s decision to remove fuel subsidy, if elected.

Keyamo is also the Campaign Spokesperson of the presidential campaign of All Progressives Congress (APC).

Wabba said that the NLC had painstaking processes and articulated a Nigerian Workers’ Charter of Demands which the organised labour would be using to engage the political process.

According to him, the move was in furtherance of the avowed position of the NLC on issues-based campaign in the run up to the 2023 General Elections.

“A major demand in the Nigerian Workers Charter of Demands is that our local public refineries must work. We have also demanded that we must stop 100 per cent importation of refined petroleum products.

“The NLC and indeed the labour movement in Nigeria had over many decades been vehemently consistent that the only way to address the issue of the so-called petrol subsidies is to get our refineries to work.

“The logic is very simple: it is not economical to buy from abroad at very expensive prices a product that a country like ours can easily produce at home,” he said.

Wabba added that, at the heart of their demand on the management of Nigeria’s mineral resources, especially the downstream petroleum sub-sector was the issue of Production Economy.

He said that the congress believed that the rescue of Nigeria from the current path of Consumption Economy to Production Economy was the only way to resolve Nigeria’s economic nightmares of massive depletion of scarce foreign exchange reserve.

Wabba said this would resolve the continuous devaluation of the Naira; significant jobs reduction, poverty and downturn in the living standards of the people.

“In a determined effort to popularise the positions in the Nigerian Workers Charter of Demands, the NLC and TUC at the behest of the Labour Party on Monday and Tuesday hosted a National Retreat of the leadership cadres in our movement.

“At the retreat, the Labour Party and Organised Labour in Nigeria adopted and mainstreamed the Workers Charter of Demands into the Manifesto of the Labour Party.

“This is in line with our persuasion that issue-based campaign anchored on the manifesto of political parties should drive Nigeria’s political process.

“If any political party goes around saying that they plan to sell our refineries, remove subsidies, they should be ready to defend such stance to Nigerians at the campaigns, ’’he added.

He said that, the NLC, Organised Labour, and Labour Party position had not changed. “It only got amplified,” he said.

September 18, 2022