Abuja — Organised labour under the auspices of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has asked the federal government to immediately reverse the hike in the recent pump price of Premium Motor Spirit as well as previous increases.

It said that the hike did not produce any good result but had only made the people poorer.

A statement signed by the NLC president Joe Ajaero expressed dismay that the present administration had continued to increase the pump price of petrol without commensurate capacity of Nigerians or mitigatory measures.

"We are dismayed by the latest increase in the pump price of petrol. It looks like the only thing this government is known for is increase in the pump price of petrol without commensurate capacity of Nigerians or mitigatory measures," he said.

NLC said that following the logic of market forces, it was an aberration that a private company (NNPCL) is the one fixing prices and projecting itself as a hegemonic monopoly.

"We challenge the government to go to the drawing board and present us with a blueprint for an inclusive economic growth and national development instead of this spasmodic ad hocism and palliative policy.

"It needs no stating the fact that the latest wave of increase has grossly altered the calculations of Nigerians once again at a time they were reluctantly coming to terms with their new realities.

"It will further deepen poverty as production capacities dip, more jobs lost with multidimensional negative effects.

"In light of this, we urge the government to immediately reverse this rate hike as previous increases did not produce any good result. People only got poorer.

"But more fundamentally, the government should be bold enough to tell Nigerians in advance the destination it wants to take the country".