A don, Prof. Wumi Iledare, on Monday, said that there was no need for organised labour to embark on strike over the deregulation of the downstream oil sector.
Iledare, a Professor of Petroleum Economics, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, said that deregulation of the sector was a must-do for the growth of the country.
“Deregulation is a reasonable thing to do. There is no reason to embark on strike.
“Government did not hike the price. The government does not sell premium motor spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is not the Federal Government.
“NNPC is actually getting nothing on PMS per se, at N160 per litre of petrol.
“It is selling at a social optimum price, in my opinion, which offers a breakeven at below average total cost,” he said.
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Iledare added that a check around West Africa and the neighbouring countries would show that the price per litre in Nigeria was about N100 less than those of the cheapest country.
He commended the labour unions for their understanding of what the government was trying to do with the oil sector.
On the electricity tariff, the don said that it was a different story, as the PMS market structure was different from that of electricity in Nigeria.
“Lumping the two issues together is misleading,” he said.
NAN reports that the labour unions had, in the early hours of Sept. 28, announced the suspension of the proposed indefinite strike over hike in petrol pump price and electricity tariff.
Labour had, among other things, demanded a reversal of the new electricity tariff and the petrol pump price.