The Nigeria Labour Congress, (NLC), on Wednesday, said the importation of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) was forced on the country by foreign organisations.
The NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, disclosed this to journalists on the sideline of the 48th National Executive Council meeting of the Medical and Health Workers’ Union of Nigeria (MHWUN) in Abuja.
He said the labour would resist the proposed increase in fuel prices.
The NLC President said the congress would meet on Thursday to deliberate on the pronouncements made by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the Federal Government on fuel subsidy removal.
Wabba said: “NLC has remained very consistent in its position about the issue of what we call subsidy.
“The position of NLC is that Nigeria has no reason to continue to import refined products for domestic use particularly PMS because we’ve also found out that we are the only member country of Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) that is doing that.
“It’s an imposed policy on Nigeria, and our leaders must find a way and means to actually get us out of that imposition.
“We have made this point very clear that because of the devalued value of our currency, it then means that the policy of importation will continue to have a negative impact on consumers.
“We have seen that with kerosene, we have seen that also with diesel which our government has claimed that they’ve been fully deregulated, but the price has never been at the reach of ordinary Nigerians. Even with the cooking gas, people are now using firewood.
“So, the position of NLC remains very consistent that we’ll be against any policy of removing subsidies in the name of deregulation if it is based on importation.
“We’ve said so that we export our jobs, and yet our refineries remain under lock and key. It’s a patriotic position that many Nigerians have supported.”
