The NLC says President Bola Tinubu The NLC says Mr Tinubu gave it two options during negotiations for the minimum wage.

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has said it feels betrayed by the federal government following Tuesday’s increase in the pump price of petrol at NNPC Ltd’s fuel stations.

The NLC, in a statement by its president, Joe Ajaero, said, “One of the reasons for accepting N70,000 as national minimum wage was the understanding that the pump price of pms would not be increased even as we knew that N70,000 was not sufficient.”

PREMIUM TIMES reported that NNPC’s petrol stations across Nigeria increased their pump price of petrol from about N600 to about N897.

No official reason for the increase has been given, but the state-owned oil firm recently lamented that it could no longer sustain the petrol price.

NNPC Ltd. is currently the sole importer of petrol into Nigeria and spends billions of naira monthly to subsidise the product.

In his statement, Mr Ajaero said President Bola Tinubu, during negotiations for the minimum wage, had given the NLC two options: “either N250,000 as minimum wage (subject to the rise of pump price between N1,500 and N2,000) and N70,000 (at old pms rate).”

President Tinubu

He said the NLC chose the latter option only for it to be confronted by Tuesday’s increase in petrol price.

“Here we are, barely one month later, with the government yet to commence payment of the new minimum wage, confronted by a reality we cannot explain,” Mr Ajaero added, describing the situation as both “traumatic and nightmarish.”

The NLC president further criticised the government’s approach to resolving the fuel subsidy issue, arguing that the labour movement had foreseen the challenges but was dismissed by officials who accused them of lacking an understanding of basic economics.

He also linked the fuel price increase to what he described as a pattern of betrayal by the government, citing similar unfulfilled promises regarding electricity tariff hikes.

Mr Ajaero condemned the government’s broader economic policies, which he said had led to widespread hardship and triggered protests such as the End-Hunger/End Bad Governance demonstrations.

NLC President, Joe Ajaero

He accused the government of responding to dissent with repression, including arrests and charges of treason against protestors.

“The clandestine increase in the pump price of petrol is the first among equally sinister policies the government has up its sleeve,” he warned, vowing that the NLC would not be intimidated.

The NLC demanded the immediate reversal of the fuel price increase, the release of all those arrested during recent protests, and called on government to put a halt to the indiscriminate detention of citizens.

The NLC also demanded an end to policies that engender hunger and insecurity, electricity tariff hikes, and an end to what it described as the government’s “culture of terror, fear, and lying.”

Shehu Wada Sagagi, the governor of Kano State, claimed on Wednesday that neither his administration nor he had received any budget for palliative care in the state.

In response to charges made against him by the state’s opposition party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), over the purported diversion of federal funds for palliative care, Sagagi characterized the assertion made by APC Chairman Abdullahi Abbas as politically driven, vacuous, and deceptive.

In a statement provided to reporters in Kano on Wednesday, the chief of staff described the opposition party’s tactics as a “coordinated attempt to discredit the New Nigeria People’s Party, NNPP government’s efforts in supporting the people of Kano state, and a desperate attempt to tarnish his image in the eyes of right-thinking Nigerians.”

He stated that such baseless accusations are only cheap political antics, and that the APC’s assertions of palliative diversion and rebranding level against his personality are untrue and devoid of hard facts.

“Let it be on record that my office has never been involved in palliatives distribution and no one has ever allocated the palliatives to me for onward distribution to state, local governments or ward level,” the powerful politician who was born in Kano reiterated.

“There is no truth to the APC’s claims of diversion or rebranding; the NNPP government has been transparent in its distribution of palliatives to the masses, with clear records of beneficiaries and distribution channels.” Sagagi explained.

“The accusations made by the APC are merely political in nature, tainted to divert attention from their own shortcomings during their eight years in governance and instead focus on the accomplishments of the NNPP administration in their less than year in office,” Hea said.

The statement was partially as follows: “The APC has previously lauded the NNPP government’s efforts in aiding the people of Kano state, thus their charges of palliative diversion are equally contradictory.”

“We saw the recent media attack as a planned attempt to undermine the tremendous progress the NNPP government has made in aiding the people of Kano state, from food distribution to infrastructure development.”

“The Kano state government would not be surprised by the APC Chairman’s frustration, which led him to attempt blackmail and fact-bending in order to garner cheap publicity.”

“We are aware that the APC is still dealing with the fallout from the disastrous NNPP victory in the Kano governorship election in 2023. The never-ending loss in the Supreme Court was just one more nightmare.”

“The leadership is chasing shadows, seizing every opportunity to back over the media with empty vessels, instead of reflecting on their misfortune at the poll and maybe asking the good people of Kano for forgiveness for their careless administration and massive misappropriation of public funds.”

But Sagagi added, “We challenge the APC to produce evidence to support their claims or to withdraw their statement.”

Remember that Abdullahi Abbas, the chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kano, demanded on Saturday that the Kano State government, led by the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), conduct an independent investigation into its officials who are allegedly involved in diverting federal palliatives and that they either prosecute those responsible or face legal action.