Petroleum price now N555 per litre, says NNPC

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…hints that prices will continue to adjust with market dynamics

By Onu Okorie

Stakeholders of Nigerian National Petroleum Company, NNPC limited had a meeting yesterday morning and a resolution was taken by the management to approve an upward review of the NNPC PMS pump price table for Mega/ Standard/ Leased Stations to between N488 and N555 per litre.

All the marketers were equally asked to adjust retail prices for the petroleum product across states.

The new price is following the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s announcement of the removal of fuel subsidy in Nigeria made during his inauguration in Abuja on May 29, 2023.

The NNPC Limited also fixed new prices across 36 States of the Federation for the Premium Motor Spirit PMS popularly known as fuel between N488 and N555 per litre.

The new table of retail prices for different geopolitical zones of the country reeled out by the management of the Company instructing marketers to effect the changes immediately beginning from Wednesday, May 31, 2023, took analysts by surprise as many thought that the new fuel price would be determined at a later time.

However, a statement released by the management read “Please implement meter change as approved, effective today 31st May 2023. Wayne is to attend all locations as relates to their area of coverage in our network.”

According to the new price schedule, petrol will sell highest in Maiduguri and Damaturu at N557 per litre and N550 per litre in the rest of the Northeast zone.

Benni Kebbi will buy petrol at N545 to lead prices in the Northwest zone. The average price in the North Central zone will be N537 per litre, except in Illorin, where it will sell for N515 per litre.

Consumers in the Southeast will buy at an average of N520 per litre.

Apart from Uyo and Yenegoa, where petrol will now sell at N515 per litre, the rest of the South south zone will get the product at N511 per litre.

Consumers in Lagos will buy the product at N488 per litre, while the rest of the Southwest zone will get the product at N500 per litre.

Also the Chief Corporate Communications Officer of NNPC Ltd Mr Garba Deen Muhammad in a statement yesterday said that the prices will continue to fluctuate to reflect market dynamics.

According to him, “we wish to inform our esteemed customers that we have adjusted our pump price of PMS across our retail outlets, in line with the current market realities.

“As we strive to provide you the quality service we are known for, it is pertinent to note that prices will continue to fluctuate to reflect market dynamics.

“We assure you that NNPC Ltd. is committed to ensuring a ceaseless supply of products.

“The Company sincerely regrets any inconvenience this development might have caused.

“We greatly appreciate your continued patronage, support and understanding through this time of change and growth.”

Various stakeholders have been reacting to the new development in the oil sector of the economy.

According to the Socialist Equality Movement,

“We condemn in strongest terms the purported removal of the fuel subsidy by the newly inaugurated Tinubu-led regime in its inaugural speech.

“We hold that the Tinubu-led regime has shown clearly from the start that it is a pro-imperialist and out rightly anti-poor regime and no iota of illusion should be held in it by layers of working people and change-seeking youth.

“We hold that the “fuel subsidy removal” is purported because it is a veiled cover to hike fuel prices and satisfy the greed of the private oil marketers. This has been used from one anti-poor regime to the other .In fact, the Buhari-led regime claimed it had “removed subsidy” before it left. Why then is the Tinubu-led regime removing it?”

A statement made available to the media yesterday in Abuja by the Group’s Acting Chairperson Ayo Ademiluyi averred that the policy would bring much hardship to Nigerians.

“We are of the view that this attack should not be taken lying low. While we have seen resurgence of fuel queues at filling stations, astronomical increases are looming on food and other staple items.

“We are of the view that the central bureaucracy of the labour movement cannot just whistle an empty opposition to the fuel subsidy removal, it must pose a clear alternative of nationalisation of the commanding heights of the economy.

“We hold further that as much as we raise these demands with the central labour bureaucracy, we are not under illusions as to its ideological capitulation to the neo-liberal ideology of “there is no alternative” to fuel subsidy removal”, the acting chairperson stated.

However, another group known as Oil and Gas Transparency and Advocacy Group has drawn support for President Bola Tinubu on the removal of the petroleum subsidy.

The CSO stated that the Federal Government was spending N1.243 trillion monthly on fuel subsidies, saying the economy would collapse if an end was not put into the regime.

It explained that petrol otherwise known as PMS was still being sold at N600 per liter across the country in spite of the subsidy regime.

It said that the sum of N1.243 trillion being fuel subsidy cost was not included in the nation’s budget for 2023.

It expressed concern that the subsidy regime was being driven by “a few questionable merchants, whose monolithic line of business is “fuel subsidy”, adding that such an amount could be ploughed back into the nation’s economy.

It said the pillage of resources in the guise of subsidy had taken too long; thereby making the scam looks like a mystery.

It will be recalled that the Group Managing Director of the NNPC Ltd Malam Mele Kyari had advised Nigerians that there was no need for panic buying as fuel queues had been noticed in petrol stations across the country especially Abuja and Lagos.

He noted that the company had enough products to supply the country for the next 30 days, adding that it was monitoring its supply and distribution networks around the country.