The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has called on the Federal Government to return petrol prices to what they were in June 2023, demanding urgent intervention to alleviate the rising cost of fuel. Speaking at a press briefing in Abuja on Thursday, TUC President, Festus Osifo, emphasized the need for prices to not only revert to June 2023 levels but to even drop below those figures.

“We want the price of the product to go below what it was before; not just reverse to what it was before but to go below,” Osifo stated.

He urged the government to support the oil sector by offering foreign exchange to the Dangote Refinery at a lower rate of $1 to ₦1,000, rather than the current exchange rate of over ₦1,600 to the dollar. According to Osifo, this approach could significantly reduce the cost of petrol in the country.

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“If the solution we are proposing is implemented, it will take us back to the price we had in June last year,” he added. Osifo also stressed that governments worldwide intervene in critical sectors like oil and urged the Nigerian government to do the same, rather than leaving the sector at the mercy of market fluctuations.

Since May 2023, petrol prices have surged from ₦184 to ₦998 per litre in Lagos, a significant increase that has hit Nigerian households hard. The pump price in June 2023 stood around ₦450 per litre in the same city.

Osifo reiterated the importance of making petrol accessible and affordable for all Nigerians, noting that even households without cars depend on the availability of the commodity for their daily lives