The Federal Government has distanced itself from the latest increase in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), better known as fuel by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL)
Speaking against the backdrop of widespread public reactions for President Bola Tinubu to intervene and reverse the NNPCL’s decision to hike the ex-depot prices for marketers, Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, said the government is not responsible for the latest development.
However, despite washing the government’s hands off the price hike, Idris stoutly defended the price hike on Wednesday, saying the NNPCL was only responding to prevailing circumstances in the energy industry, and not to any instruction from the federal government as being insinuated in some quarters.
He said based on available provisions in the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), the government can no longer fix prices of petroleum products, adding that having stopped the subsidy regime since May 2023, the NNPCL has only been paying differential to keep the price within the range it had been.
Further defending the NNPCL’s claims that it can no longer absorb the losses accruing from the differential payment, the Minister said; “The differential you’re seeing is a result of different factors. One of them is the crisis in the Middle East. The market is volatile. Therefore, the prices of petroleum products are going up, consistent with what is happening with other operators in the industry globally.
“Secondly, NNPC cannot continue to absorb these losses for Nigeria because as a limited liability company, it would be operating at a loss”.
Idris, who appealed that Nigerians should continue to show understanding with the NNPCL and the government, said the prices would ultimately come down in the long run, assuring that the government would not relent in investing the savings from subsidy removal to improve other critical sectors such education, security, healthcare, and infrastructure.
For him, Nigerians would soon have cause to smile as the government’s initial investments in CNG would assist in ameliorating the price hike impact as more operators invest in expanding the sector.
Forefront News notes that the NNPCL Retail Limited communicated this change through a price list released on Wednesday, indicating the pump price increase from N897 per litre to N1,030 in Abuja; from N855 to N998 in Lagos; N1,070 in North-East; N1,025 in other South-West states; N1,045 in South-East and N1,075 in South-South.
The National Oil Company’s price list also shows that the ex-depot price in Calabar is now set at ₦1,050 per litre; Port Harcourt – ₦1,045; while prices in Ogara, Koko, and Warri now sell at ₦1,040 per litre.
