Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — The Trade Union Congress, TUC, has condemned the recent increase in the pump price of the Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, popularly referred to as petrol, saying the government was ambushing organised labour with the action.
Recall that NNPC Limited, NNPCL, on Tuesday increased the ex-depot price of the PMS from N487.7 to N567.7 per litre, leading to a sharp increase in the retail price of the product to over N600 per litre at fuel stations across the country.
Reacting to the development, the Chairman of TUC, Rivers State, Comrade Ikechukwu Onyefuru, said the government was deliberately ambushing the organised labour by jettisoning the ongoing negotiation on how to ameliorate the sufferings of the masses due to fuel subsidy removal, to yet again increase the price.
Onyefuru regretted that while some states were yet to implement the N30,000 minimum wage, the recent increase in prices of goods and services will further impoverish Nigerians.
The Rivers TUC boss, in a statement sighted by our correspondent, noted “with dismay the recent insensitive approval of N110 billion palliative for the National Assembly and N30 billion to the judiciary while the average Nigerians were being asked to tighten their belts”.
He recalled that organised labour had called for the repairs of the nation’s four refineries before subsidy removal, in order to reduce its effect on the people.
In the meantime, the TUC called on its members to remain calm and law abiding while awaiting further directives from the national body.
It further thanked Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State for the free transportation palliative introduced by his government, assuring that Labour will continue to collaborate with the state government to achieve progress.
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