THE Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) had charged the Federal Government to ignore the advice of the World Bank to increase the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, to N750 per litre.
NLC’s Head of Information, Mr. Benson Upah, said any further increase in the price of petrol would lead to anarchy in the country, calling on the government to reject the proposal of the World Bank that petrol should sell at about N750 per litre, as against the current rate of between N620 and N650 per litre in most locations across the country.
This followed oil marketers agitation that the cost of PMS should be around N1,000/litre if government was not subsidising the product.
But the government pushed back at the marketers and the World Bank over alleged reintroduction of subsidy on petrol.
The World Bank, on Wednesday, December 13, asked the government to stop the subsidy payment on petrol and raise the cost of the product to N750/litre, saying government might still be paying the subsidy as fuel prices in Nigeria were currently not cost-reflective, projecting that Nigerians should pay about N750/litre for PMS as against the current price of N650/litre.
The Bank’s Lead Economist for Nigeria, Alex Sienaert, alleged the continuous payment of petrol subsidy by the federal government during his presentation of the Nigeria Development Update, December 2023 Edition.
He stated: “It does seem like petrol prices are not fully adjusting to market conditions. So, that hints at the partial return of the subsidy if we estimate what is the cost reflective of the retail PMS price of the would-be and assume that importation is done at the official FX rate.
“Of course, the liberalisation is happening with the parallel rates, which is the main supplier, the price would be even higher. These are just estimates to give you a sense of what cost-reflective pricing most likely looks like.
“We think the price of petrol should be around N750/litre more than the N650/litre currently paid by Nigerians.”
But NLC declared that any further hike in the price of fuel would be an automatic invitation to anarchy.
According to Upah, the Bank is a predatory institution that does not care about the welfare of Nigerians, stressing that the initial increment in the pump price of PMS had caused enough problems in Nigeria.
“It does not care what happens to Nigeria or Nigerians, so it could from its perch in Washington say whatever it likes or push around our leaders like house-helps.
“The truth, however, remains that the present regime of the pump price of PMS has all but destroyed the country. To now ask the government to raise it to N750/litre is to invite anarchy upon the land.
“The World Bank is so hypocritical it fails to see the nexus between price and capacity. The minimum wage in Nigeria for a privileged few is N30,000. The same minimum wage in the United States (US) where the law is enforced is N1.5m.
“In light of this, if the government knows what is good for it, it should ignore the World Bank but must remain committed to fighting inherent corruption in the downstream sector of the petroleum industry. It must also cut down the high cost of governance.”
The Federal Government, through the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mr. Mohammed Idris, said President Bola Tinubu had made it clear from his first day in office that his government would not sustain the payment of subsidy on petrol.
“Subsidy is gone, and the President told Nigerians from his first day in office that there won’t be subsidy (on petrol). It is because subsidy has gone that we have so much money available for the government to do so many things.
“Of course, it’s never enough, but fuel subsidy is gone and it’s gone for good,” he stated.
