FG, governors to meet over petrol, electricity prices

The federal government will meet with state governors and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on Thursday to find a solution to the issue of petrol pricing.

The minister of labour and employment, Chris Ngige, announced the meeting date to journalists on Monday at the end of a meeting between the federal government and organised labour.

NAN reports that the meeting is continuation of the series of meetings held in 2020 to persuade labour unions from embarking on industrial action over the increase in the price of petrol and electricity.

Ngige said that the meeting with organised labour was peaceful and productive.

“As for the issue of the price of PMS, it is a work in progress. The governors are to discuss this on Thursday at the National Economic Council and hopefully there will be a way out of the situation,” he said.

He also said that both sides have resolved to allow more time in order to look into ways of tinkering with the template for fixing domestic fuel price.

Ngige said on the issue of electricity tariff that the report was well recieved by both sides and the committee was asked to continue further work on grey areas.

He said that the meeting with labour leaders has been adjourned till April, after the Easter celebration.

Speaking on the outcome of the meeting, Ayuba Wabba, the president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), said the union was able to point out areas of the report on PMS pricing that it was not in agreement with.

Wabba also said labour is not comfortable with the import pricing method in use.

“This means that we import 100 percent of all the PMS used in the country, whereas we have refineries,” he said.

 “The reports were presented and we pointed out areas that we are not comfortable with and also made some suggestions which will form the basis of decisions on the matter.

In 2020, the federal government adopted a price modulation system where crude oil prices are fixed in line with happenings in the global market.

This has resulted in an increase in the price of petrol, a development that labour leaders have kicked against.