NUPENG dares Senate over plans to add N5 on fuel pump price

The Lagos State Zonal Chairman of the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Alhaji Tokunbo Korodo has said any increment in the pump price of petroleum products, would be vehemently resisted by his union members.

Alhaji Korodo said this yesterday while reacting to a proposed plan by the Senate to add an extra N5 on every litre of petrol and diesel as revenues for the proposed National Road Fund.

According to the NUPENG helmsman, his union would wait for the senate resolution to become an official policy, before reactions would follow.

“The alleged act is not official, because no formal announcement has been made, but the union is not resting on its oars to get the final deliberation on this imminent action,” he said.

The union leader told National Daily that any programme or policy initiated to enact the bill, if passed, would be resisted with force, to provide succour to Nigerian masses battling with the current recession.
He was however very clear on what would be the reaction to any policy that would add to the current hardship.

Recall that the report of the Senator Kabiru Gaya-led committee, which was scheduled for debate on Wednesday and also on Thursday, but was shelved due to lack of time, recommended the creation of the National Road Fund, which, it said, should be sourced through extra costs on petrol and diesel.

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According to the report, which was signed by 12 out of 15 members of the committee, Nigerians would be made to pay N5 more on each litre of petrol and diesel products imported into the country, as well as on locally-refined petroleum products.

The bill is equally proposing the imposition of the 0.5 per cent charges deductible from the fare paid by passengers on inter-state roads.

The Senate committee equally proposed other sources of funding for the road fund to include axle load control charges, international vehicle transit charges, road fund surcharge of 0.5 per cent chargeable on the assessed value of any vehicle imported at any time into the country, 10 per cent from toll fees on federal roads and 10 per cent of revenue accruing from lease or license or other fees pertaining to non-vehicular road usages along any federal road.

Though the report of the bill was already circulated among senators as it was listed on the Order Paper for Wednesday and Thursday, the lawmakers could not consider it this week because of time constraints.

It is most likely the report comes up for debate on Tuesday.

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