THE National Administrative Council (NAC) of the Nigeria Labour Congress is at the moment locked in a meeting over the implications of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday, reliable sources at the Bafyau Labour House National Headquarters of the NLC confided in National Record.
The NAC of NLC is composed of elected national leaders and senior staff members, mainly heads and acting heads of departments of the NLC.
The meeting, which will be chaired by Comrade Ayuba Wabba, NLC President, is holding via both physical and virtual platforms, with the major agenda being the impending increment in the prices of petroleum products, especially petrol, with the full deregulation of the oil industry imminent due to the recent passage of the PIB and its signing into an Act by President Buhari early on Monday.
Although the NLC leadership had welcomed the passage of the PIB by both chambers of the National Assembly early July, the realisation that the new legislation is a signal to a totally deregulated petroleum sector that will render the prices of products to market forces may have compelled the Congress to call the NAC meeting to craft possible positions that may be taken to the Central Working Committee (CWC) and the National Executive Council (NEC) for adoption as NLC position in the certain event that new price regimes emerge.
With total lack of refining capacity and the economy heavily dependent on importation of petroleum products, it is expected that prices will soon go up to a level likely to be beyond the reach of majority of Nigerians if subsidies are totally removed as government has overtime stressed, and in line with the provisions of PIA.
Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr Mele Kyari, had consistently said the price of petrol could hit N300 per litre once the petroleum industry bill (PIB) becomes law.
Similarly, a committee of the Nigerian Governor’s Forum (NGF), headed by Kaduna State governor, Nasir el-Rufai, had at a meeting of the NGF on May 19, 2021, recommended full deregulation of the oil industry and a price template of between N380 to N400 per litre of petrol.
The el-Rufai committee of the NGF had argued that the regulated and subsidy-induced system was no longer sustainable; hence the committee’s resolve to recommend allowing market forces to determine the price of petrol and other products.
While the NLC had responded to el-Rufai’s proposal to the NGF, saying that it will call workers out on strike without notice if prices were to be increased as recommended by the NGF, it however contradicted itself by issuing a statement commending the NASS when the two chambers passed the bill in July under controversial circumstances.
In the commendation conveyed in a statement, NLC President, Comrade Wabba, had said:
“The Nigeria Labour Congress received with relief the news of the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) by the two chambers of the National Assembly. The PIB with 319 clauses, 5 chapters and 8 Schedules is promoted by government as an instrument for increased transparency, services delivery and global competitiveness for Nigeria’s oil and gas sector. It is remarkable that after about twenty years of wait, since President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua first submitted the PIB to the National Assembly, the PIB, is finally becoming a reality. We commend the Senate and the House of Representatives for rising to the occasion.
“We know that the process of making the PIB a law has not been completely consummated as the passed bill would still need to be harmonized by a Conference of the two chambers of the National Assembly. President Muhammadu Buhari is also expected to sign the bill into law. Definitely, there are a few more hurdles to cross.”
Although the NLC raised some questions on the unbundling of the NNPC and allocation of 3% to oil-bearing communities, as well as the non-representation of workers in the proposed board of the unbundled NNPC. Wabba’s statement never raised the core issues of deregulation and the attendant impact in terms of lack of refining capacity and dangers of subjecting the economy to market forces under an import driven economy; all of which have historically been the major concerns of NLC and its allies.
Perhaps, these are the issues that the ongoing NAC meeting may attempt to resurrect but, it obviously looks as if the Wabba-led NAC is attempting to lock the door after the horse has bolted.
