The Nigeria Labour Congress has issued a stark warning over the dramatic spike in petrol prices, directly blaming escalating military tensions between the United States, Israel and Iran for pushing Nigerian workers deeper into economic hardship.
In a statement issued on Sunday and signed by NLC President Joe Ajaero, the labour body declared that the surge has left millions of workers “bearing the brutal cost of a global capitalist crisis they did not create.” Petrol now sells between N1,170 and N1,300 per litre across the country, triggering fresh alarm over transportation costs and galloping food inflation.
“This is a direct assault on the Nigerian people,” the NLC stated. “While imperialist rivalries play out abroad with bombs and military escalation, Nigeria’s working class is being bombarded with poverty and hunger because we have failed to ensure that our public refineries are operational.”
The congress said the price crisis has brutally exposed the fragility of Nigeria’s downstream petroleum sector and stripped away any illusion that local refining alone can shield the country from global shocks. It noted that even the Dangote Refinery has adjusted prices in line with international volatility, passing the burden straight to ordinary citizens.
At the heart of its demands, the NLC is calling on the Federal Government to immediately revive the nation’s public refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna. “The government must immediately halt the decay of the public sector and ensure the full rehabilitation and operation of the Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna refineries,” the statement insisted. “This is not a favour but the right of the Nigerian people.”
Alongside refinery revival, the labour union is demanding an immediate wage award and cost-of-living allowance for all workers, expanded and transparent cash transfers for vulnerable citizens adjusted to match inflation, and urgent tax relief including the suspension of regressive taxes on low-income earners.
The NLC further urged the government to channel the projected ₦30 trillion oil windfall — forecast by the Nigeria Economic Summit Group due to elevated global crude prices — directly to cushion the impact on Nigerians. “The about ₦30 trillion oil windfall expected to accrue to Nigeria as a result of the current Middle East war must not grow wings but should be invested in the Nigerian people,” the statement warned, referencing past unaccounted windfalls.
Joe Ajaero’s message carried a blunt ultimatum on governance priorities: “Using the Middle East war as an excuse to further impoverish Nigerians is unacceptable. The primary duty of government is to ensure the welfare of the citizenry. We demand action. We demand justice. We demand survival.”
As of Monday, no official response has been received from the Federal Government, leaving workers and vulnerable citizens anxiously awaiting concrete measures. The NLC stressed that when workers can no longer afford transport to their jobs or families cannot put three meals on the table, “society sits on a keg of gunpowder.”
The fresh intervention comes as Nigeria grapples with the dual reality of potential record oil revenue from the global crisis and immediate domestic pain at the pumps, with the labour body insisting the time for decisive intervention is now.
