LAGOS, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigerian labour leaders Thursday rejected a 50-percent reduction in the prices of petroleum products offered the same day by the government.
Shaken by widely followed nation-wide workers' strike, the government has offered to reduce the prices of petrol and diesel by five naira each while kerosene would revert to the original price.
The reduction, announced by government spokesman Doyin Okupe, brings the price of petrol to 25 naira per litre, diesel to 24 naira and kerosene to the original price of 17 naira.
Okupe told reporters in Abuja that the reduction was to stem the
cyclical crisis
generated by the recent 50 percent
across-the-board increases in the prices of the three products.
He said that the new prices would remain until all refineries in the country went into full production, and that the government would do everything possible to reduce smuggling and hoarding of the products to prevent shortages.
Okupe also announced the government's plan to constitute a committee comprising representatives of labour and relevant consumer groups to formulate policies aimed at cushioning the effect of the price increases.
He said the government decided to announce the reduction unilaterally after labour leaders failed to report back to it as agreed during several hours of talks, which lasted till the early hours of Thursday.
But in a quick reaction, the president of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Adams Oshiomhole, rejected the offer and said that the strike would continue.
He accused President Olusegun Obasanjo of being a dictator by unilaterally announcing the price reduction.
Oshiomhole denied that the labour leaders had refused to report back to the government, saying the government had been informed of their stand by noon Thursday.
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