‘High petrol cost has wiped out salaries’

The Trade Union Congress (TUC) in Rivers State yesterday said the increase in pump price due to petrol subsidy removal has wiped out salaries.

Its chairman, Ikechukwu Onyefuru, in a statement, urged the government to speed up negotiations and initiatives to ameliorate the sufferings of the masses.

He said while some states were yet to implement the N30,000 minimum wage, the attendant high prices of goods and services would further impoverish Nigerians.

Also yesterday, the Association of Distributors and Transporters of Petroleum Products (ADITOP) kicked against the “arbitrary” increase of fees charged trucks loading petrol by the Petroleum Tanker Drivers Association (PTD).

ADITOP alleged that the PTP, which currently collects N60,000 from every truck, was planning to hike the charge.

It accused the PTD of immunity and abuse and vowed not to “allow this blatant impunity against our members to persist.”

“We urgently call on the Federal Government to intervene promptly and halt the petroleum tanker drivers from terrorising other stakeholders in the oil industry,” said the association’s National President, Alhaji Lawal Dan-Zaki.