The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria has warned that the pump price of petrol could rise to N2,000 per litre, urging the Federal Government to subsidise crude supply to domestic refineries and accelerate the deployment of Compressed Natural Gas infrastructure to ease mounting economic pressure on Nigerians.
TUC President Festus Osifo, addressing journalists in Abuja on Thursday, said the surge in Premium Motor Spirit prices — partly driven by Middle East tensions involving Iran, Israel, and the United States — was already inflicting severe hardship on workers and households nationwide.
“Today, comrades, we are seeing that the cost of petrol is edging towards N2,000 per litre depending on the part of the country that you are. Nigerian workers are already passing through excruciating pain as we speak,” Osifo said.
He warned that the crisis extended beyond transportation, with rising diesel costs pushing up manufacturing expenses and, ultimately, the prices of consumer goods.
To bring down fuel prices quickly, Osifo proposed that the government channel excess crude oil revenues — earnings above the budget benchmark price — into subsidising crude supplied to local refineries. He noted that the 2024 budget pegged crude at $64.85 per barrel, meaning revenue generated above that level is shared among the three tiers of government.
“If crude is selling at around $100 per barrel and the benchmark is $64.85, the difference should be partly used to subsidise crude supplied to local refineries. When government supports production in this way, the price of PMS, diesel and jet fuel will drop almost immediately,” he argued.
Osifo, who also heads the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, said the production-side subsidy model would be immune to the abuses that plagued the former downstream subsidy regime. “Within one or two weeks, Nigerians will see a reduction in the price of petroleum products,” he said.
On the longer-term solution, Osifo backed the government’s push for CNG-powered transportation but warned that inadequate refuelling infrastructure remained a critical obstacle to adoption.
“If you are travelling from Kabba to Ilorin or from Ogbomosho to Ibadan and your vehicle runs out of CNG, where are you going to refill? It becomes like driving an electric vehicle without charging stations,” he said.
The labour leader noted that organised labour originally proposed the CNG concept but lamented slow implementation, urging government to urgently scale up the refuelling network to make the transition viable for Nigerians.
Osifo also attributed part of the fuel price surge to the continued depreciation of the naira, arguing that the exchange rate directly determines domestic pump prices. He said the naira should ideally trade between N800 and N900 to the dollar to ease inflationary pressure.
“If our naira today was below N1,000 to a dollar, Nigerians would be buying petrol for less than N1,000 per litre. The more the naira devalues, the more our purchasing power erodes,” he said.
Beyond fuel, the TUC raised alarm over the country’s deteriorating security, describing the persistent killings across parts of Nigeria as unacceptable and calling on the government to equip security agencies with modern technology to address the threat.
On workers’ welfare, Osifo said labour unions were engaging employers and government over the current economic hardship, even as the next national minimum wage review is not due until 2027. He said TUC would formally transmit its recommendations on fuel pricing reforms and CNG expansion to the Presidency and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
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