Soaring Fuel Prices: Federal Govt Profiting While Workers Suffer, Says NLC

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has accused the federal government of benefitting from the surge in international crude oil prices while the country’s workers bear the brunt through rising petrol prices, transportation fares and declining purchasing power.

NLC president, Comrade Joe Ajaero, said the government should deploy the additional revenue accruing to the country from higher oil prices to cushion workers and households from the economic shock rather than leaving the citizens exposed to escalating living costs.

Ajaero spoke yesterday in Abuja at the National Pre-retirement Summit, where he called for early negotiations on a new national minimum wage and demanded that minimum pension be placed on the negotiating table alongside the minimum wage in the 2027 wage regime.

READ ALSO: NLC Demands N500,000 Minimum Wage, Says N70,000 Has Lost Value

His comments came amid renewed pressure on households following recent petrol price increases. Petrol has risen to around N1,430 per litre in major cities, with prices reaching about N1,500 in some parts of the country.

He said, “The fuel is going up, jumping up, and the Nigerian government is making a whole lot of money from it. As one of the oil-producing countries, they are making trillions because of the problem in the Hormuz.

“You can see that the oil was paid for at maybe $70 or whatever the price was. It’s $90, so they are making an extra $30 or $40. Now, can’t you use this money to embark on some interventionary measures like other countries, so that we’ll now be alive till the time when they will pay minimum wage?”

Ajaero argued that wage negotiations could no longer be based solely on a fixed monetary figure because inflation, exchange-rate movements, fuel prices and other economic variables could quickly erode the value of any amount agreed.

He said the same principle should apply to pensions, insisting that minimum pension considerations must form part of the next wage negotiations because retirees are equally exposed to the rising cost of living.

According to him, the current three-year wage review cycle provides an opportunity for the government and organised labour to begin discussions early rather than waiting until the existing agreement expires.

He said the March-April 2027 expiration of the current minimum wage arrangement was approaching and urged the parties to begin preparations for negotiations immediately.

“Negotiations are not just figures. They don’t bandy figures. There are some extraneous variables that affect what you ask for. Assuming one Naira equals $1, I would advise Nigerian workers to remain at N70,000, as that would be a lot of money for them. But you can see that you can equally get N1 million and a bag of rice is N500,000. So what happens?

“Those are some of the factors that determine what you ask for. At a point, we were negotiating minimum wage; nobody in this country knew that the fuel price would be more than N800, or even N1,000, or even N1,400. You can see that the moment it climbs to that extent, it makes a mess of N70,000.

“You have to index it either based on the cost of living index or inflation, that the minute the inflation goes up, automatically it will adjust to this – as it affects pension, so it affects salaries. Those are some of the things that will enable us to agree on something.”

At the summit, the convener, Dr Eugenia Ndukwe, said inflation had fundamentally altered the retirement landscape, making it increasingly difficult for workers to depend solely on their pensions after leaving active service.

Ndukwe said the summit’s theme, “Own Your Retirement: From Planning to Action,” was designed to encourage workers to take greater control of their financial future by understanding their pension accounts, developing additional skills and creating alternative sources of income.

She said retirement planning must go beyond pension accumulation, particularly because retirees have limited control over the periodic amounts they receive from their pension arrangements.

Ndukwe said, “The only thing that has necessitated this year’s National Pre-retirement Summit with respect to the innovation and changes in pension is that inflation is taking a strong hold on the realities of Nigeria. Expenses keep increasing, but the money and salary don’t.

“I saw the leverage on the innovations that the world is focusing on. And I believe it is of more advantage for those who have retired to monetise this experience using digital innovations to make more money, much more than what they have been earning while they were in active service.”