The Federal Government in the early hour of Tuesday announced a reduction in the pump price of petroleum products to N162.44k effective from Monday 14th December 2020
Addressing Labour correspondents after the end of an ongoing meeting with the organised labour, Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige said a reduction of N5 from N167 per litre.
“The meeting ended very fruitfully. We have agreed that there would be a slide down on the present price of pump price of petrol (PMS) and that the price slide would get us a cut of about N5 per litre and that this will take effect from next Monday, a week from today.”
He disclosed that the cut in price did not represent a discontinuation of deregulation in the industry, as it was not a cut on the price of crude oil but only a cut on areas that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and other importers had agreed they could cut cost – demurrage, freighting and other commercial areas of the pricing.
The Minister said the meeting also agreed to set up a committee for the purpose of monitoring the industry and ensuring price stability.
He stated that the committee would be “appraising the market forces and every other the thing that would make for stability in the industry, as well as liaising with all the marketers to make sure that the cap is always maintained.”
Membership of the committee would be drawn from NNPC, Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPRA), Petroleum Equalization Fund, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, the Labour Unions comprising Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC)
The committee would report back to the meeting on January 2, 2021.
Ngige also noted that the electricity Committee had made tremendous progress, would continue its activities and would also report back on 25 January 2021.
President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Ayuba Wabba, said that price stability would protect poor Nigerians from the volatility of the oil and gas market.
He added that the meeting agreed to protect the poor Nigerians from that volatility, especially by establishing a template and making it and all the processes involved in setting prices transparent.
Wabba said that the government had offered many palliatives, cutting across road transport, agriculture and housing sectors, and noted that the specifics of those palliatives would be worked out at the end of January 2021.
Those present at the meeting were Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha; Minister of State, Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, SAN; Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva; President, TUC, Quadri Olaleye, among others.
