The National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited on Wednesday, officially increased fuel pump price to more than N500 in different parts of the country.
NNPC spokesman Garba Deen Muhammad in a statement said the increase in price was an adjustment to “current market realities”, indicating petrol subsidy removal.
“As we strive to provide you with the quality service for which we are known, it is pertinent to note that prices will continue to fluctuate to reflect market dynamics,” Muhammad said.
President Tinubu’s speech on Monday was instantly greeted by long queues at petrol stations across the country, with many citizens being unaware of the cause of the sudden fuel scarcity.
By Tuesday morning, many petrol stations sold fuel for over N400 while the official pump price was still at N184. This is amid scarcity and panic-buying by Nigerians.
A spokesman for Nigerian petrol marketers Yakubu Suleiman said they are “supporting the deregulation of the industry” by removing subsidy.
“There is no country that can survive without deregulating the economy,” Suleiman said.
NNPC, however, assured Nigerians of its commitment to ensuring a ceaseless supply of products
“The company sincerely regrets any inconvenience this development may have caused,” Muhammed said.
“We greatly appreciate your continued patronage, support, and understanding during this time of change and growth
Our correspondent gathered that NNPC station pegged fuel price at N537 per litre in Abuja.
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, during his inaugural address on Monday, announced that petrol subsidy was gone with no budgetary allocation to fund it.
Tinubu said government funding “subsidy can no longer justify its ever-increasing costs in the wake of drying resources.”
A document seen by The Guardian early Wednesday showed pricing variety in different parts of Nigeria – indicating a sharp increase from the previous N184 official pump price to more than N500.
(The Guardian).
However, in his reaction to the increase, a member of business community in Lokoja,kogi state, Mal. Mohammed Hassan, said the new administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu would have put in place, strategies before implementing the removing of fuel subsidy policy.
Hassan, who gave the in an interview with the Correspondent of The Reporters in lokoja on Wednesday, on heels of the scarcity of fuel, said this was necessary to ease the effect of the policy on the masses.
Hassan, a sociologist, who also is a business man, said the first step for the government to do would be to block all areas where the cabres (fuel marketers) benefit unjustifiably to the detriment of the masses.
He also called on the Tinubu-led government to take a critical look at the policy before implement it.
"No matter how good a policy is, there are usually people who will always want to sabotage it for their selfish interest. These are the unpatriotic ones the present government should take care of before implementing the policy.
"Government should ensure steady supply of fuel to take care of the saboteurs naturally.and regulate the amount of fuel going out of Nigeria to the neighbouring countries to check the short supply of the product to local consumers.
""Once we have adequate supply of fuel, the people will have cause to patronize black fuel marketers.
"There should also be efforts geared towards reopening borders to enable foreign goods come to the country and open it to international competition, adding that prices of goods and services would come down while boosting local production should be intensified.
"What causes inflation in Nigeria is that, what we have at home is not sufficient to take care of our local needs, then there is no need to close border," he said.
Our correspondent reports that though panic buying of fuel has eased in lokoja considerably,, the scarcity of the product continued as at the time of this report on Wednesday.
(The Reporters).
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