Nigerian Governors To Meet NLC, TUC Over Fuel Subsidy

The labour unions had, in December, resolved to hold a national protest on February 1 against plans by the federal government to remove fuel subsidy.

Nigerian governors have resolved to meet with the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) over fuel subsidy, which the federal government is planning to remove.

The Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), Kayode Fayemi, disclosed this at the end of a closed-door meeting of the governors on Wednesday night.

The meeting, which spanned into the early hours of Thursday, was not only the first in the new year but also the first to be held physically in a long while.

Addressing journalists afterwards, Mr Fayemi said the subsidy was part of the discussions at the meeting and that they agreed to meet with the labour unions as sub-national leaders in order to help salvage the situation.

“The Forum also discussed the issue around petroleum subsidy and concluded to engage the leadership of the NLC and TUC as sub-national leaders on how best to address the issue with a view to salvaging the Nigerian economy for the Nigerian people, ” he said.

There are plans by the federal government to fully deregulate fuel price by removing monthly subsidy as from the first quarter of this year.

Part of the recommendation of the National Economic Council (NEC) in November 2021 was for the government to increase the price of petrol, to N302 per litre in February 2022.

Petrol price is currently between N162 and N165 per litre.

The recommendations, though presented by Kaduna State governor – Nasir El-Rufai, were put forward by the NEC ad-hoc committee interfacing with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on the appropriate pricing of PMS in Nigeria.