The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, disclosed this at the end of a meeting with labour leaders which began around 9 pm on Monday and ended at 1:30 am on Tuesday.
The Nigerian government has announced a reduction in the
pump price of premium motor spirit, otherwise known as petrol, from N168 to
N162.44 per litre with effect from December 14.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, disclosed this at the end of a meeting with labour leaders which began around 9 pm on Monday and ended at 1:30 am on Tuesday.
The product presently dispenses at N168, following the
decision of the Petroleum Products Marketing Company to increase the ex-depot
price of petrol from N147.67 per litre to N155.17 per litre in November.
The ex-depot price is the price at which the PPMC sells the
product to marketers at the depots.
The minister said a technical committee had been set up to ensure price stability in the industry.
Ngige stated that the committee, which would report back to
the larger house on January 25, would appraise the market forces and other
things that would ensure stability in the industry.
“Our discussion was
fruitful, and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, which is the major
importer and marketers of petroleum products and customers, have agreed that
there will be a slide down of the pump price of PMS and that the price cut will
get us about N5 per litre and that the price cut will take effect from next
Monday, a week today,” ThePunch quoted him to have said.
Ngige explained that the price reduction was not meant to
suspend deregulation because it did not affect the price of crude oil but on
areas where the NNPC as the main importer had agreed that it could cut costs
like freight and demurrage costs.
He said the new price slash was a product of a joint
committee of NNPC and labour representatives, which looked into ways of cutting
costs.
On the aspect of electricity tariff, both sides agreed to
wait till the next meeting date on January 25 to enable the special committee
dealing with complaints to conclude their deliberations.
The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Mr Ayuba Wabba, communicated the position of the minister, saying that both sides reached the agreement.
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