The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria is urging the Federal Government to commence production of products from the Port Harcourt refinery by the end of Q1 2024.
TUC President, Festus Osifo, conveyed this message during a press briefing in Abuja on Monday, just ahead of a nationwide protest by the Nigeria Labour Congress addressing the escalating cost of living, scheduled to start within the next 24 hours.
“The congress visited the Port Harcourt Refinery about a week ago to inspect the state of the rehabilitation of both the old and new refineries.
“We are demanding that crude production from the old Port Harcourt refinery must commence before the end of first quarter of 2024.
“We further demand that the rehabilitation of the new Port Harcourt refinery, Warri refinery and Kaduna refinery must be expedited as we shall be closely monitoring progress and work completion as scheduled in the work breakdown structure,” he said.
He emphasised that the Port Harcourt refinery must start production before the end of March.
“No matter how little, let’s start from somewhere,” he stated.
The congress also urged the Federal Government to start importing food within two weeks to address the increasing food prices nationwide.
The Federal Hovernment had recently expressed confidence in Nigeria’s ability to produce enough food to sustain itself and potentially become a food exporter.
President Bola Tinubu also said he would not set up a board to regulate the prices of food commodities in the country.
“What I will not do is to set a price control board. I will not also approve the importation of food,” Tinubu said.