Fuel Prices 'll Be Stable for Four Years - Mantu
From Kola Ologbondiyan in Abuja
Prices of petroleum products may be stable for the "next three to four years," according to proposals being worked upon by the Independent Co-ordinating Committee on Measures for cushioning the Effects of Fuel Price Increases.
Briefing newsmen yesterday, Alhaji Ibrahim Nasir Mantu, the chairman of the committee, also denied reports that some members had walked out on the committee.
According to him, the committee would come up with prices that would be "sustainable" and "acceptable" for years to come. He, however, did not explain if the committee would recommend that the current prices should be maintained.
"Many of us believe that deregulation would force down prices and bring about competition but that is not in place yet. We want certain prices to be sustained but unless we can come up with something, this may not be the end of the increase in prices," he said. "We would come up with something that will stand the test of time. It's our collective decision to find solution and we shall leave no stone unturned in ensuring that the problem of incessant increase in the prices of petroleum products is solved. We don't know how many increases would come without this intervention and we feel that it would affect the stability of the nation as well as its economy if we continue to allow strikes to follow every increase in prices of petrol," he said.
Dismissing reports that the committee was in disarray, Mantu noted that, "nobody has walked out since we started and everybody has been participating. We are not here as labour, civil society or government representatives but as a big family saddled with the responsibility of the crisis at hand."
The committee, which was set up by President Olusegun Obasanjo on October 11 to work out palliative measures over increases in fuel prices, has been considering several measures, most of which will be to the benefit of workers.
THISDAY checks revealed that members of the committee are considering proposing to the federal and state governments to increase transport allowances in the workers' packages.
Another proposal, it was learnt, is the purchase of mass transit buses for public transportation at fares lower than those charged by commercial buses.
A source told THISDAY that the Nigeria Labour Congress will be pressing for a recommendation that the fuel price should be reverted to N43 per litre and a ceiling on further increases irrespective of the price of crude oil.
Mantu did not elaborate on the various options before the committee but assured that the recommendations would be "far reaching" and would accommodate all the views of the various sections of the society respresented in the committee.
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