The Nigeria Labour Congress has accused Dangote Group and oil marketers of ganging up to rip Nigerians off in the Premium Motor Spirit (Petrol) pricing.
NLC disclosed this in a communiqué on Sunday after its National Executive Council Meeting held on Friday.
The Union noted that the current price of petrol, which stood between N1060 and N1,200 per litre, is higher than the market value.
According to the NLC, the high petrol price in Nigeria is an indication of the prevalence of cost padding and abnormal margins in the country’s oil and gas sector at the detriment of Nigerians.
The Union called on the Nigerian government to immediately activate the Port Harcourt refinery takeoff and other government-owned refineries.
“The NEC-in-session noted with increasing dismay the shenanigans around the appropriate pricing of petrol (PMS) in Nigeria.
“It was observed that there may be a gang-up against Nigerians by fat cats in the industry as the current price of the product
is significantly higher than the real market price.
“Padding of costs and abnormal margins seems to be the order of the day considering the revelations from the
ongoing controversy between Marketers and Dangote Group.
“It is entirely possible that Nigerian workers and masses are being ripped off by those who control the levers of economic power in Nigeria, which explains why the domestic public refineries may not immediately be allowed to come on stream.
“NLC demands appropriate pricing of petrol and calls for the public domestic refineries in PH, Warri, and Kaduna to quickly come back on stream to break up the monopolistic stranglehold the big players have on the industry,” NLC stated.
Recall that in the past days, Petroleum marketers and Dangote Refinery have been enmeshed in controversy over petrol pricing.
Report stated that Dangote Group had announced that its petrol was sold at N960 and N990 per litre.
However, Petroleum Marketers had insisted that imported petrol is cheaper than Dangote Petrol.
But Dangote Refinery accused petrol marketers of importing cheap and substandard fuel, which was denied.
Recent data from the Major Energies Marketers Association showed that the landing cost of imported petrol stood at N971 per litre.