PENGASSAN, NUPENG Back FG on New Fuel Pump Price
Featured, Latest Headlines, News Friday, May 13th, 2016
By Abdul Gaffar Bello
ABUJA, NIGERIA (AFRICAN EXAMINER) – The Federal Government of Nigeria appears getting through with the new fuel price regime it announced this week, as the leadership of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas workers (NUPENG) have expressed their support for the new price.
Minister of State for Petroleum, Mr. Ibe Kachikwu Wednesday, after a meeting with some stakeholders in Abuja, announced the current price regime of N145 per litre.
The two oil workers’ unions EXCOS indicated their approval in a communiqué jointly signed in Abuja.
The Communique stated that the NEC-in-session had an extensive discussion on the recent price modulation. The NEC-in-session is of the view that price deregulation has its benefits in the immediate and near future.
However, the statement indicated that NEC-in-session strongly demands the Federal Government’s engagement with the stakeholders to work out a clear direction on how to reinvest the gains into the economy to cushion the effect of the price.
The unions advocated for an urgent need for a paradigm shift and a new direction in the management of new investment as well as income in the oil and gas industry, with critical provisions.
Similarly, they tasked FG to ensure optimal performance of the existing refineries and create an enabling environment for the construction of new refineries in the country so as to ensure adequate production and availability for domestic consumption and possibly export.
The bodies also demanded an immediate negotiation of a new minimum wage for workers across all cadres.
More importantly, the unions urged FG to improve on its engagement of critical stakeholders with respect to providing a road map with timelines of the infrastructures it intend to embark upon with the proceeds from this price modulation to cushion the harsh effects of the new policy.
The communiqué also demanded the immediate reconstitution of the board of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) and PEF for the management of the new price regime and the reconstitution and the re-strengthening of relevant agencies such as Standard Organization of Nigeria, Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and the Nigeria Customs and Excise Department to “prevent the abuse of the new framework of PMS supply and distributions.”
Earlier, the two unions announced that they were not part of the new price decision, yet, promised to make public statement on the development.
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This is quite unfortunate! This type of action can only come from elements that have been compromised and who seek to place personal interest above the interests of the masses. Not even negotiations to reduction of the almost 100% increase to at least N100 or N120 Naira. God will punish the devil! God will fight for his people – the impoverished and oppressed masses of this country. THIS IS NOT THE CHANGE WE VOTED FOR!