NUPENG and PENGASSAN support new fuel price, demand N90, 000 minimum Wage
Joint meeting of NEC, National Executive
Council, of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria,
PENGASSAN and the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG,
ended on Friday with a declaration of support for the government’s new price of
petrol.
The
Federal Government had on Wednesday announced the take-off of full deregulation
of the downstream sector of the Nigerian petroleum industry, which changed in
petrol price from N86.50 to N145 per litre.
The
Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, criticised the decision, and vowed to resist what
it called “the height of insensitivity and impunity”.
Nigerians
had expected the two oil workers unions, which are key affiliates of the NLC,
to follow suit with strong words against the new fuel price.
But, at
the end of the meeting in Calabar, Cross River State, the leadership of the two
unions in a joint communiqué noted the benefits of price modulation mechanism
introduced early this year, urging government to consult all interest groups to
cushion the effect of the new price on the people.
“The
NEC-in-session had an extensive discussion on the recent price modulation and
is of the view that price deregulation has its benefits in the immediate and
near future,” the two unions said.
“Government
should engage with the stakeholders to work out a clear direction on how to
reinvest the gains of the policy into the economy to cushion the effect of the
price on the people,” they said.
The
communiqué signed by PENGASSAN President, Francis Johnson, and his NUPENG
counterpart, Igwe Achese, asked government to pay attention to the state of the
nation, particularly on issues bordering on national security, power, bad
roads, unemployment/casualization and redundancy in the oil industry.
Other
issues addressed during the meeting included joint venture funding,
anti-corruption war, state of the refineries, Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB and
the petroleum price modulation announced at the beginning of the year.
The
unions said there was an urgent need for a paradigm shift and a new direction
in the management of new investments and the management of the income in the
oil and gas industry.
Specifically,
the unions asked government to ensure that all the four refineries in Port
Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna perform optimally, while machinery should be put in
place for the construction of new ones to ensure adequate local refining and
products supply for domestic consumption and possibly export.
Government,
the unions said, should immediately commence negotiation with Labour on the new
minimum wage for workers across all cadres, while critical interest groups
should be consulted, to help provide a road map with timelines for development
of infrastructure with the proceeds from the price modulation to cushion the harsh
effects of the new policy.
According
to the groups, Nigerians have been yearning for the removal of subsidy for many
years now but to no avail.
“The
price is the secondary issue; the Federal Government has brought up a policy
that would stop money from entering into the hands of few individuals,” they
said in a communique.
“The
subsidy removal is a welcome development; we must not mortgage our economy into
the hands of few selfish individuals,’’ the workers said.
They
said that they would push for a new minimum wage demand of N90, 000, given the
new development.
“With
the new pump price of N145 per litre, government must speed up the negotiation
process for a new minimum wage of N90, 000 to cushion the effect of the
envisaged inflation.
“
As the price of fuel increases, there should also be an increment in workers’
salary as the old minimum wage of N18, 000 has no effect again,’’ they stated.
Other
resolutions at the meeting included immediate reconstitution of the boards of
the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA and Petroleum
Equalisation Fund, PEF for the management of the new fuel price regime.
The
unions also demanded the reconstitution and re-strengthening of relevant
regulatory agencies, such as Standard Organization of Nigeria, SON; Department
of Petroleum Resources, DPR and the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, to prevent
the abuse of the new petrol supply and distribution frameworks.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Hello We are OddThemes, Our name came from the fact that we are UNIQUE. We specialize in designing premium looking fully customizable highly responsive blogger templates. We at OddThemes do carry a philosophy that: Nothing Is Impossible
0 comments:
Post a Comment