“NNPC Doesnt have The Power To Fix Petrol Prices” – NLC

The Nigerian National Petroleum Commission (NNPC), according to NLC President Joe Ajaero, does not have the authority to set the price of petroleum products.

The federal government declared this week that there was no funding for subsidies in the budget for 2023 after May 29. Ajaero claims that the federal government, however, misled because documents indicated that there was funding for subsidies through the end of June.

According to NNPC, there is a backlog of around N2.3 trillion, the labour leader claimed.

Then, Ajaero said that the NNPC lacked the legal authority to control prices in a country with a competitive market like Nigeria.

Ajaero speaking to Arise TV on Monday, June 5 said, “Now if he is saying that there is no appropriation for subsidy, then fine and good. We can take it from there and we have to discuss it. No appropriation for subsidy doesn’t mean that the NNPC, a private limited company, will now determine for us the price.

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“If they say they have removed the subsidy and it should be subject to market forces, then it shouldn’t be for the NNPC to determine prices. They don’t have such powers and there is no provision that their board, as a limited liability company, ever met and took such a resolution. Such details are not acceptable to the labour movement.

“By Tuesday night, I held a meeting with Mr. President and his team. There and then, the NNPC said they were going to bring out figures and prices. And on the spot, I told them, if you do that, we’ll fight back. There’s no basis for you to take that decision before discussion. And they went ahead and did that.

“We decided to boycott the meeting, but people still prevailed. We attended the meeting and asked them to return to the status quo to enable us to discuss freely. And up till now, they have not done that. So what are we going there to do?”

Ajaero challenged the government to provide Nigerians with information about the subsidies they had been paying and those that had already been paid.

“We had agreed on some alternatives before now. Why are those alternatives not working?” he asked?

When questioned why the federal government’s numerous factual explanations and the potential effects the recently built Dangote refinery would have had on the industry had failed to convince labour, Ajaero responded that market forces would ensure monopoly in the oil business.

He said, “How can there be market forces if Dangote is the only person producing? Are we not repeating a private sector monopoly?

“Why is the Port Harcourt refinery not working? Why is the Warri refinery not working? Why is the Kaduna refinery not working? Unless there are other players in the sector, we can’t be talking of market forces. We can’t be talking of competition in the sector. We can’t have a single market participant in the sector and we are talking of market forces.

“It doesn’t go that way. Between now and December, if care is not taken, if it is only Dangote that is producing, a litre of oil will be selling for over N1,000. So the argument doesn’t make sense to us.”