The recent upward swing in the pump prices of refined petroleum products in Nigeria, has compelled the organised labour to demand for urgent palliatives, including wage awards, improved crude supplies to refineries and payment for the same in naira.

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in a statement on Wednesday, under the signature of its President, Joe Ajaero, pointed out that petrol now sells for about ₦1,430 per litre in major cities, with prices reportedly higher in less accessible locations.

It therefore urged the Federal Government to urgently introduce measures to cushion the impact, including the payment of reasonable wage awards to workers and the sale of crude oil to local refineries in naira.

The labour centre warned that the rising cost of petrol would further worsen the economic hardship facing Nigerians, noting that increases in transportation costs typically trigger higher prices of food, rent, school fees and other essential goods and services.

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The statement, titled “Save the Situation Now,” said the latest increase came at a time when government pressure on oil marketers to reduce pump prices in response to lower international crude prices was beginning to produce results.

According to the NLC, the latest surge has been linked to the resurgence of conflict in the Gulf, but Nigeria’s status as an oil-producing country means it should be able to provide some protection against international oil market shocks.

It said, “As a nation, and as a people endowed with enormous fossil resources, we are deserving of a certain level of protection or buffer against the gales from the Gulf, and indeed, other gales.”

The NLC urged the Federal Government to immediately introduce measures to shield households and businesses from the impact of the higher fuel prices.

It specifically called for reasonable wage awards for workers, sufficient crude oil sales in naira to local refineries and an expansion of the country’s national petroleum storage capacity to strengthen energy security and prepare for emergencies.

The labour union said the measures would not only ease the burden on Nigerians but also create jobs, generate economic value and help address emerging security challenges.

It also argued that government intervention, including subsidies, should not be ruled out in an emergency.

“There is nothing wrong with the government subsidising the needs of citizens, especially in emergency situations like this,” Ajaero said, adding that oil-producing countries were introducing different forms of intervention or palliatives to protect their citizens from the effects of the current global energy crisis.

The NLC further said the Federal Government had benefited from higher international crude prices, claiming that crude was currently selling about $35 to $40 per barrel above the benchmark used in the national budget.

It argued that the additional revenue should be regarded as a windfall that could provide fiscal space for interventions aimed at protecting citizens from the rising cost of living.

The union also raised concerns over the reported importation of crude by some local refineries, describing the development as contrary to the objective of developing domestic refining capacity.

“On a long-term basis, we are equally concerned that local refineries are importing crude. This is unreasonable and unacceptable and defeats the logic and purpose of local capacity,” the statement said.

The latest petrol price increase comes amid Nigeria’s broader transition to a deregulated downstream petroleum sector following the removal of the petrol subsidy in May 2023.

The policy has exposed domestic fuel prices more directly to changes in crude oil prices, foreign exchange costs, logistics and other market factors. The government and oil-sector regulators have subsequently introduced measures aimed at increasing domestic refining and reducing Nigeria’s dependence on imported petroleum products.

The commissioning and ramp-up of large-scale private refining capacity, alongside the rehabilitation of government-owned refineries, have also been central to the Federal Government’s strategy for improving domestic fuel supply and reducing exposure to international market volatility.

However, fluctuations in crude prices, exchange rates and supply-chain costs continue to influence pump prices and transportation expenses, with implications for household purchasing power and inflation.

The NLC said the government needed to act quickly rather than allow the burden to fall entirely on workers and other citizens.

Ajaero said the Federal Government, which he noted was seeking re-election in the coming months, “cannot afford to stand and watch marketers inflict suffering on the citizenry in the name of deregulation.”

“Labour has an obligation to speak out or act accordingly,” he added.

Vice President Kashim Shettima has commissioned a garment factory in Ilorin, Kwara State, designed to employ at least 4,000 people at full capacity, alongside an 11-storey Kwara Revenue Service (KWRS) House.

The development was disclosed by Stanley Nkwocha, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Communications in the Office of the Vice President, in a statement released on Wednesday.

The commissioning formed part of activities marking the turbaning of Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, as the Sardauna of Ilorin by the Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari.

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The title makes AbdulRazaq the first person to hold the position of Sardauna of Ilorin, described as the Defence Minister of the Ilorin Emirate.

Speaking during the turbaning ceremony at the Emir’s Palace in Ilorin, Shettima commended AbdulRazaq for sustaining what he described as a legacy of continuity in Kwara State.

The Vice President recalled the governor’s late father, Alhaji AbdulGaniyu Folorunsho AbdulRazaq, SAN, as Northern Nigeria’s first lawyer and the first Mutawalle of Ilorin.

“His father, Alhaji AbdulGaniyu Folorunsho AbdulRazaq, SAN, OFR, carried an Ilorin name into history as Northern Nigeria’s first lawyer. Every path begins with someone willing to walk without familiar footprints.

Through law and diplomacy, his story became part of Nigeria’s own,” Shettima said.

He added: “The branch may reach towards another horizon, yet it carries within itself the memory of the root. His father was the first Mutawalle of Ilorin, a title that remains in the family in celebration of their bond with the Emirate. Today, another chapter enters the family’s relationship with this palace.”

Shettima also highlighted his relationship with AbdulRazaq, saying their responsibilities regularly bring them together in discussions concerning the federation and its states.

“There is something sobering about celebrating a friend while both of you remain answerable to the demands of public office. Titles will eventually pass into the record of our lives. The human bonds formed along the way should endure beyond the appointments through which other people first came to know us,” he said.

The Vice President further commended AbdulRazaq’s governance record, citing investments in classrooms, medical coverage and roads connecting communities.

“These are chapters in the story of a state as its people encounter it: the lesson a child can attend, the treatment a household can seek, and the market a farmer can reach.

Such investments must be sustained so that those who inherit them can build upon them. A legacy takes its fullest measure in the generations it continues to serve,” he added.

Dignitaries at the event included the governors of Imo, Kebbi, Plateau, Ekiti, Ogun, Niger, Bayelsa and Kaduna states.

Others were First Lady Oluremi Tinubu, represented by the wife of the Vice President, Nana Shettima; Minister of Trade, Industry and Investment, Jumoke Oduwole; Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi; Emir of Zazzau, Nuhu Bamalli; and the Soun of Ogbomoso, Oba Ghandi Afolabi Olaoye, Orumogege III.

The ongoing debt controversy between former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi and the state government has taken a fresh turn after the Anambra State Government shared a statement attributed to Victor Ononye, a former spokesperson of the defunct Anambra State Water Corporation.

Ononye was presented by the state government as corroborating its Fact No. 3, which concerns alleged unpaid salaries, pensions and gratuities involving former Water Corporation workers during the administration of Peter Obi.

In the statement shared by the government on Wednesday, Ononye said he was in a position to verify the claim, recalling the experience of workers of the Water Corporation during the period.

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“Yes. I can verify Fact No 3 of Soludo’s submission,” Ononye said.

“The staff of Anambra State Water Corporation where I was the spokesman suffered terrible gnashing of teeth without salaries,pension and gratuity for eight years.”

He further alleged that workers were dismissed without committing any offence and claimed that staff of the Anambra State Environmental and Sanitation Authority (ANSEPA) experienced a similar situation.

“The workers were unilaterally dismissed without committing any offence. The same fate was suffered by staff of Anambra State Environmental and Sanitation Authority (ANSEPA) in the administration under review,” he said.

Ononye also claimed that the situation had severe consequences for affected workers.

“Hundreds of people died in the anguish. The few who survived did so by the special grace of God. Ask anyone who lost his entitlements what it feels like to do so. Don’t forget that the victims are our brothers and sisters,” he said.

He also linked the alleged situation to the collapse of public pipe-borne water supply in the state.

“The ripple effect is that for eight years, there was nothing like pipe borne water in Anambra and people lived as nothing happened. Dirt, filth and squalor, sickness and diseases became the order of the day,” Ononye stated.

He further alleged that the Greater Onitsha Water Supply Scheme suffered during the period.

“The multi billion Naira Greater Onitsha Water supply scheme has now been converted into a fish pond while similar water schemes at Enugu and Abakaliki are working till date. Shame on you all,” he said.

The statement comes as the Anambra State Government continues to challenge Obi’s claim that he left office in March 2014 without outstanding salaries, pensions, gratuities or other financial liabilities.

In its Fact No. 3, the state government said Obi owed “verified salaries, gratuity, and pension to retired teachers and staff of Water Corporation.”

The government said arrears owed to staff of the defunct Water Corporation “lingered throughout” Obi’s tenure and eventually resulted in court processes and judgments.

According to the government, the Soludo administration negotiated a settlement with the affected workers and had already paid the first two instalments of an agreed three-instalment arrangement.

The government also said it had cleared about ₦22 billion in inherited gratuity arrears involving retired state and local government employees and teachers, while other legacy arrears remained under consideration.