The Nigeria Labour Congress and civil rights groups on
Tuesday said there was no economic basis in the claim by the Federal Government
that the petrol price in the country was among the lowest in Africa.
The NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, in an interview with The PUNCH, said
government should have situated its argument against the devaluation of the
naira and the minimum wage being paid to workers.
Also, some state
chapters of the NLC said the hike in electricity tariff and the petrol price
had rendered the N30,000 minimum wage meaningless.
Following the increase of the ex-depot price of petrol by
the Federal Government last week, marketers adjusted their pump prices to
between N158 and N162 from N148 to N150 in August.
On Monday, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji
Lai Mohammed, said despite the increase in the price of petrol, the price of
the commodity in Nigeria remained among the cheapest in Africa.
But puncturing the government’s claims, Wabba emphasised
that the government failed to acknowledge the fact that the naira had been on
free fall for many years and this, he added, had affected the prices of
commodities.
He noted, “That comparison cannot even stand because our
currency has been on free fall and it has been devaluated over and over again.
So, the basis for comparison is faulty. If they (other countries) have stronger
currencies, it means our currency is weak.
“Not only petroleum products but all other commodities are
also expensive in Nigeria because of the free fall of the naira. Can they also
make the comparison on the basis of the stability of the currencies of other
countries over the years and the instability of the Nigerian currency over the
last five years? You can then get the answer.”
When asked if the minimum wage was commensurate with the
hike in the petrol price and electricity tariff, Wabba maintained that the
government should have considered the impact of its decision on the workers.
He said, “The point we have made is that many Nigerians have
been pushed to the edge and it is insensitive to increase the prices of the two
commodities at the same time-petroleum products and the electricity. You can
see the impact already in the prices of bread which have increased from N250 to
N300.”
The NLC Chairman in Ogun State, Emmanuel Bankole also dismissed government’s argument.
Bankole said the comparison made by the government was fake
and was done in isolation.
He asked, “What is the minimum wage the workers in those
countries are receiving? Those are the
things to consider. The facilities in those countries, can we compare ours with
those ones? That comparison is fake.”
On his part, the Enugu State Chairman of the NLC,
Virginus Nwobodo, described the government comparison of fuel price and
electricity tariff with the ones in other countries as baseless. He said the
fuel price hike had made minimum wage meaningless.
Also, the Osun State NLC Chairman, Jacob Adekomi, said
comparing petrol prices in other countries with that of Nigeria without comparing wages of workers
was wrong.
The Chairman of the NLC in
Delta State, Mr Goodluck Ofobruku, told one of our correspondents that
government’s argument made no sense.
He stated, “The type of government we have at the centre is
not interested in the welfare of
Nigerians.”
The Executive
Director of the Resource Centre for
Human Rights and Civic Education, Dr
Zikirullahi Ibrahim said government
argument was wrong.
The National Publicity Secretary of the Yoruba
socio-political group, Afenifere, in an interview with The PUNCH, said, “It’s is so sad that this government has
degenerated to the point of making the kind of useless comparison military
regimes used to make in the past to deceive Nigerians. Have they forgotten they
promised they would repair our refineries and produce fuel locally? They are so
shameless to be telling us prices in Niger and other places.”
On his part, the
Executive Director of YIAGA
Africa, Samson Itodo, said the argument showed that government had failed.
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com