The Presidency has blasted the president of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Joe Ajaero, for saying that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu betrayed labour leaders by increasing the petrol pump price.
Ajaero had alleged that labour accepted the N70,000 national minimum wage based on an understanding that the pump price of PMS would not be increased.
Reacting to Ajaero’s allegation, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Print Media, Abdulaziz Abdulaziz, on his verified X handle, @Abdulfagge, said he was in the last two meetings where Tinubu met with Labour leaders, noting there was nowhere an offer was made in exchange of fuel price hike.
Abdulaziz described Ajaero’s claims as “dirty politics” aimed at manipulating the emotions of Nigerians.
He said that he attended the two meetings and no offer was made in exchange for a fuel price hike, contradicting Ajaero’s assertions.
“I sat through the two meetings President @officialABAT had with Labour leaders on minimum wage. At neither of the meetings was an offer made in exchange for the fuel price hike.
“Ajaero is once again playing his dirty politics with the emotions of Nigerians,” Abdulaziz said.
Meanwhile, energy stakeholders have berated the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd. over the delay in getting the Port Harcourt Refinery functional to address recurrent fuel scarcity and price hikes.
The stakeholders on Wednesday in Abuja spoke against the backdrop of the unending fuel queues at filling stations across the country and the increase in the price of petrol.
Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, the executive secretary of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), faulted the NNPC Ltd. for failure to update the public on the exact status of the refinery.
NNPC had postponed the much-anticipated commencement of the Port Harcourt refinery six times.
This had raised concerns about local production of petroleum products, particularly petrol, to meet the needs of Nigerians.
