The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has increased the cost of petrol at its retail outlets by N4 from N141 to N145 per liter. Day by day Trust reports this is the first run through the NNPC will offer at N145 per liter in spite of the fact that this is inside the most extreme cost altered by the government since May.
Although independent station shave been selling at N145, NNPC stations and its affiliates’ prices have been hovering between N143 and N141 per litre. In major cities and even less at stations in the hinterlands, the price has been less.
It was reported that the new price was fixed on Tuesday, November 1 after it was sold for less for a few months. Garba Deen Muhammad who is the spokesperson of the NNPC said there was no rule preventing marketers from selling within the range stipulated.
“A price regime was introduced between N135 and N145. So, you can sell anywhere within that range. What you are seeing is interplay of market forces.”
However, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu maintains that the government has not increased the pump prices of petrol.
Kachikwu yesterday, November 1, dismissed insinuation of any fuel price hike, insisting that the government had not announced any change in pump prices, Vanguard reports. The minister disclosed this shortly after the meeting between President Muhammadu Buhari and the leaders of Niger Delta at the presidential Villa, Abuja. When responding to an enquiry about an imminent hike in petrol prices, he said no increment had been announced yet.
“Have you heard me announce any increment? Wait until you hear from my mouth,” he said.
The minister’s dismissal of a price hike in petrol was sequel to widespread panic in Abuja yesterday that major petrol stations, including the retail outlets of the Nigerian National Petroleum Cooperation (NNPC) had jerked up their pump prices from the official N145 to N149 per litre.
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