Group advocates industrial action against new pump price

A civil society organization, Access to Advocacy and Rights of the People (ACARP), has asked the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) to mobilize a general strike against Federal Government’s upward review of the fuel price.

It said that the unions should not limit their agitation to press statement, saying the industrial action will hasten the government to adjust the price downward.

ACARP described the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) new pump price as an unjust increase and anti-people policy.

The organization’s recommendation came days after the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) better known as petrol price was adjusted from N855 to N1,030.

In a statement signed by Lead Advocate, ACARP, Akintunde Adedeji, on Friday, the organization expressed profound disappointment and concern over President Bola Tinubu’s inability to revamp Nigeria’s dysfunctional refineries, despite the highly publicized partnership with Dangote Refinery, which had promised affordable petroleum products.

It said: “This is also the right time for the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) to take a bold decision and resist this coordinated attack on the masses by calling for a mass struggle of a general strike to force a reversal of the unjust increase in petrol price with the full collaboration of the Civil Society Organizations to ease the strangulating economic policies being meted on the Nigerian people,” it said.

The organization further noted that the government’s failure to address the refineries’ issue has led to a reliance on imported fuel which has worsened the economic hardship faced by citizens.

While emphasizing the need for urgent action, ACARP stated that a responsive government prioritizes the well-being of its citizens, taking proactive measures to mitigate their struggles.

“A responsible and responsive government that listens to the yearnings and challenges the people are confronted with will do the needful to assuage the feelings and address the primary needs to make life meaningful and worthwhile. The opposite is the case with the present government, which cares less about what becomes the lots of the governed”

“Nigerians deserve more than this untoward hardship because we did not bargain for it while the government should as a matter of national duty resuscitate the dysfunctional refineries that have been abandoned for years, make it work for the good and better service of the people thus fight corruption that permeates the oil sector and the ruse and scam called fuel subsidy which in itself is a cesspool of corruption that has confronted us as a nation for ages”

“Our destinies lie in our hands and this is the time to halt the perpetual suffering and hardship we are being subjected to with the multiplier and ripple effects of hyperinflation caused an unnecessary incessant hike in the fuel pump price of petroleum products”.