THE Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has said that the latest increase in the pump price of petrol would further pauperise Nigerians, as production capacities dip.

In a statement signed by its President, Joe Ajaero, on Wednesday, October 9, in Abuja, titled, ‘What next after increase in pump price?’ the Congress added that the increase would lead to more jobs loses, with multidimensional negative effects; hence it demanded its immediate reversal.

Ajaero said the previous increases had not produce any good result, rather, more people only got poorer, expressing dismayed by the latest increase in the pump price of petrol without commensurate capacity of Nigerians or measures put in place to mitigate its effect.

He stated: “Even following the logic of market forces, we find it an aberration that a private company (NNPCL) is the one fixing prices and projecting itself as a hegemonic monopoly.

“We challenge the government to go to the drawing board and present us with a blueprint for an inclusive economic growth and national development, instead of this spasmodic ad hocism and palliative policy.

“It needs no stating the fact that the latest wave of increase has grossly altered the calculations of Nigerians once again at a time they were reluctantly coming to terms with their new realities.”

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) had earlier on Wednesday raised the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, by 14.8 per cent from N897 to N1,030 per litre across its retail outlets in the Federal Capital territory (FCT) and N998 per litre in Lagos.

Just last month, the company had increased the price of the product from N615 to N897.

This came weeks after it  started lifting the product at the Dangote Petroleum Refinery’s gantry after an extended period of price negotiations.

     On September 15, the company announced that it had bought from Dangote refinery at N898 per litre, but the refinery countered, describing it as “both misleading and mischievous.”

The following day, NNPCL announced that based on the prices set by the Dangote Refinery for its petroleum products, petrol was to sell for N950 in Lagos and N999 in Abuja.

     The latest increase came at a time Nigerians were expecting further reduction in the price, since it was not being imported and the country had on October 1, started selling crude oil to Dangote in Naira.