Joe Ajaero, president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), says Nigerians have not been told the truth on the issue of petrol pricing.
Speaking on Politics Today, a Channels TV programme on Tuesday night, Ajaero said the government is punishing the masses.
The product’s pump price surged between N617 and N700 per litre in the federal capital territory (FCT), Lagos and other parts of the country in the last 24 hours.
Ajaero notes that President Bola Tinubu’s administration is toying with Nigerians, and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) is only being clever by half.
“NNPCL cannot import and say the commodity is imported by marketers, that is not true,” he said.
“If the government withdrew subsidies of petroleum products and suddenly, while we are about to start committee meetings, there is another price increase, why then will the government seek a court injunction and use other measures if it is not their business?
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“It seems we have entered a reign where Nigerians are being punished unnecessarily and where lies are coming up everywhere.
“If you have a single market where everybody must change dollars at N800/$1, you removed the market where people were changing dollars at N450 to import, it means the very moment that dollar value increases to even N900/N1000, you will tell us that you imported it at current value.
“Even though the products you have now are not the ones that were imported under N800/$.
“The government is toying with Nigerians. What is happening is not economics, but a reign of impunity.”
On May 29, President Bola Tinubu announced that the petrol subsidy is gone, a pronouncement which immediately led to a hike in the pump price of the product across the country.
Subsequently, NNPCL increased the petrol price at its retail outlets, with independent marketers following suit.
