By Ayodele Oni
The Federal Government has clarified that the outcome of its negotiation with the Organized Labour would determine whether or not to increase the pump price of petrol.
The FG’s position is coming barely three months after it turned down the recommendation by the Nigeria Governors’ Forum for an increase in the price of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol.
The Federal Government had first, on May 21, rejected the Governors’ recommendation of shooting petrol price up to between N380 and N408.5 per litre and removing fuel subsidy.
The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) had set up a committee chaired by the Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, which submitted a report seeking the full deregulation of the oil sector.
Governor El-Rufai, while presenting the report of his committee to the NGF, explained that the current subsidy regime was unsustainable because smugglers and illegal markets in neighbouring African countries were the beneficiaries.
The Special Assistant on Media to the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Garba-Deen Muhammad, again at the weekend, re-echoed the position of his boss, Chief Timipreye Sylva, who had earlier stated the position of the Federal Government on the matter.
Muhammad explained that people were free to make analyses and recommendations but stressed that the government’s position on petrol price had not changed.
“The truth is that the key component for us to make the decision is basically for us to have a consensus with labour. So regardless of what the Governors or anybody else is saying, labour is the key partner in this project.
“The negotiations with labour officials are ongoing. A decision will not be reached until the negotiations are over. So anybody can say what they want.
“The fact is that the labour represents the Nigerian people and the Government is working with the Nigerian people. So it is a cardinal objective that the labour is carried along.”
