Trade Union Congress (TUC) President, Festus Osifo has explained that the decision of the Federal Government to float the Naira is the main cause of the high cost of fuel in Nigeria.
Osifo made the revelation during a recent appearance on Channels TV’s Politics Today, hosted by Seun Okinbaloye.
Osifo, who is also the President of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), disclosed that despite recent increase in petrol pump price, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited continues to pay for the variation between the landing cost of fuel and what is sold.
The labour leader told his host that that petrol could have been selling at around N350 per litre if the naira had not been devalued, noting that “the ultimate elephant in the room is devaluation.”
“If you give a special rate to NNPC, you don’t need to pay for subsidy anymore,” Osifo said, citing the example of Dangote Refinery, which was granted a special rate to sell petrol.
“If NNPCL is granted a special forex rate of about N1000/S, the cost of petrol importation will crash, and fuel prices will drop to around N600. per litre”, he said.
Osifo called on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to grant NNPC Ltd. a special foreign exchange rate, saying that the “special rate would significantly lower the cost of petrol importation and gradually reduce fuel prices across the country.”
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