On Wednesday  May 11, 2016, the Federal Government, through the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)/Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, announced “price adjustment” for premium motor spirit from N86.50 to a “band” between N135 and N145 per litre.

He also declared that the Federal Government could no longer afford to subsidise or provide the foreign exchange cover for the importation of the product.

This brought mixed reactions, not just from organised Labour but the populace at large. While the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) led by Comrade Ayuba Wabba went on strike, the Comrade Joe Ajaero faction and the oil industry unions (NUPENG and PENGASSAN) as well as transport unions, refused to join.

The prices of goods in the markets, such as household items, foodstuffs, transportation and the like, immediately went up. The common people, already hit hard by high unemployment, delayed salaries, higher electricity tariffs and the general economic downturn, are saddled with higher cost of living.

It is a great irony that the All Progressives Congress (APC) which, as an opposition party four years ago, massively mobilised to truncate the deregulation of petroleum products in 2012 by the President Goodluck Jonathan regime, is now championing the price hike and subsidy removal. It is a clear negation of their campaign promises to make life easier for the people.

Muhammadu Buhari, as the presidential candidate of the APC, had maintained that subsidy was “a fraud”, and that on assuming power, he would simply clean up the oil industry and the prices of petroleum products would come down.

Now faced with concrete reality, and after eight months of paying petrol subsidy, the APC Federal Government has decided to toe a policy line that should have gone into effect four years ago when the nation was in a better shape to cope with its painful side effects. Be that as it may we still strongly believe, as we did in 2012, that total deregulation of the downstream sector of the oil industry, is the best way forward. If we had acted four years ago, we would have saved the over four trillion naira wasted on fraud-infested subsidies.

We do not support mere “price adjustment” or “modulation” which the Federal Government calls this policy. We believe that though total deregulation will bring initial sharp pains, it is the only way out of frequent fuel scarcity with their negative impacts on the economy. It is the only way that private sector investments in local refineries will blossom.

We urge Nigerians to work with government to ensure the success of total deregulation, and put an end to crises in the downstream sector of the petroleum industry.