The Federal Government on Monday, December 14, 2020, inaugurated the Technical Committee on Pricing Framework for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol.
While inaugurating the Committee in Abuja, Minister for Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, said the Committee was expected to work assiduously to come up with a viable framework for PMS price modulation.
This disclosure was contained in a statement which was issued on Monday, December 14, 2020, by the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture and signed by its Deputy Director/Head Press and Public Relations, Charles Akpan.
Ngige at the event noted that setting up of the Committee was part of the continuation of the dialogue between the Federal Government and Organised Labour on the issue of the increase in electricity tariff.
What the minister is saying
The Minister said:
- “This is a consequential fallout of the series of bipartite meetings between the Federal Government and Organised Labour, represented by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) to fashion out a mechanism and framework to monitor and stabilize PMS pump price.”
The terms of reference of the Committee include:
- To review the cost of supply and incidental commercial cost of PMS and arrive at a basis of determining Market Reflective Pump Price cap under the template of the Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPRA) Act.
- To engage all relevant stakeholders to establish a price review framework, and to carry out any other assignment that will facilitate the work of the Committee.
The Chairman of the Technical Committee is Engr Onochie Azubuike Anyaoku, while the Secretary is Lawal Musa of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
Other members include Umar Ajiya (NNPC), Festus Osifo (Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria [PENGASSAN]), Williams Akporehia (Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers [NUPENG]), Saidu Abdullahi (PPPRA), Ahmed Bobbi (Petroleum Equalization Fund), and Ahmed Zakari (Special Assistant to the President on Infrastructure).
The rest are Comrade Najeem Yasin (NLC), Dr Nasirudeen Usman (NLC), Chief Hyginus Chika Onuegbu (Trade Union Congress), representative of Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning; and Mrs C. C. Dike, representative of Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment.
The Committee, which the Minister described as Bipartite PLUS, is expected to submit its report on Monday, January 25, 2021, in the first instance for the main committee to study.
Chairman of the Committee, Engr Onochie Azubuike Anyaoku, said they would work to provide an honest evidence-based report to enable the larger meeting to make informed decisions.
What you should know
- This development is a fallout of the series of dialogue between the Federal Government and the organized labour, represented by NLC and the TUC, over the recent increase in the pump price of petrol and electricity tariff.
- The labour unions had opposed such hike as such will increase the hardship being experienced in the country, especially by the Nigerian workers.
- The Federal Government had last week, reduced the pump price of petrol by N5 per litre as part of its ongoing consultation with the labour unions.