NLC Threatens Fresh Strike Over Further Fuel Price Hike

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has threatened to embark on a nationwide strike if the pump price of fuel sells above the current price of N617.

The labour centre warned that will embark on the strike without any notification.

NLC national president, Comrade Joe Ajaero, gave the warning in Abuja during the African Trade Union Alliance meeting.

Although NNPC Limited is yet to make any official announcement of fuel price increase, some media reports indicated an imminent increase in the price to N720.

According to Ajaero, there were purported plans to further increase the pump price of petrol, which he expressed dismay that the development will cause additional and untold hardship on Nigerians.

He said: “As we are here now, they are contemplating increasing the pump price of petroleum products, and the ministry of labour for some time now would only go to the Ministry of Justice to come up with a so-called injunction to hold the hands of Labour not to respond.

But let me say this, Nigerian workers will not give any notice if we have not addressed the consequences of the last two increases and we wake up from our sleep to hear that they have tampered with the prices again.”

“They have started floating ideas of a likely increase in the pump price of petroleum products.

“I want to plead with the government that those bad economic policies that make our wages next to nothing, should be checked. If you check those policies that lead to inflation, and devaluation of the currency, we will be comfortable even where we are. if the naira is at par with the dollar today, we will ask you to leave the minimum wage at 30,000″, he added.

Speaking further, he said: “If inflation is checked to zero, we will ask you to leave things the way they are. But inflation is flying, and by the admittance of the National Bureau of Statistics, we have over 133 million Nigerians that are multi-dimensionally poor. I think these are the issues Government should address. If we go for wage increase tomorrow, the inflation that will follow suit will destroy it”.