Nigerians groan as NNPCL hikes fuel pump price to N617 per litre in Abuja.

COMFORT EKELEME, Business Editor, AKOR SYLVESTER, Abuja and
Michael-Azeez Ogunsiji, Abeokuta

Nigerians groaned yesterday as the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited increased the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit popularly known as fuel to N617 per litre at its retail outlets in Abuja the Federal Capital Territory.

Prior to the increment, the product costs over N500 per litre in most parts if the country.
Reacting to the hike Tuesday, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) described as unacceptable, the decision of the present administration of President Bola Tinubu to further increase pump price of petroleum product from N539 to N617 per litre, saying the action would pose socio economic threat to the well-being of the people.

It asked government to reverse the decision, maintaining that the people were not happy with the unfriendly and anti people policy.
The Head of Information and Public Affairs of the congress, Benson Upah, who spoke to Daily Champion in Abuja on the new development, said the new price of the product was an indication that fuel would soon sell at N1,000 per litre.

He said “This is unacceptable as it poses a significant threat to the socio-economic well-being of the citizenry, their businesses, incomes, everything!
“We had said earlier that no reasonable government acting reasonably, leaves its national currency entirely to the storms of the market as this could lead to unintended consequences.
“The new pump price is suggestive of the fact that the pump price could rise to a N1000 or more per a litre any time soon.

“We are yet to be convinced how this is helpful to the people or the economy or how it renews the hope of the people.
“We advise the government to retrace its steps from this journey. The people are not happy. If baby steps inflict this level of pain, we wonder what adult steps could do!”, he noted.
The price of petrol has reportedly increased to about N617 per litre. A visit to an NNPC filling station in the Central Area of Abuja showed that the fuel price has now been adjusted from N539 to N617 per litre.
The immediate reason could not be ascertained but it is not unconnected to the recent projections by oil marketers that fuel price will hit N700 per litre soon.
The Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NDMPRA) is yet to comment on this development as at the time of this report.
It would be recalled that, 24 hours after President Tinubu’s declaration of the removal of fuel subsidy on May 29, during his swearing in, the NNPCL increased the fuel price from N195 per litre to 537 per litre.
In the first half of 2023, Nigeria spent N3.6 trillion on fuel subsidy alone.
The Federal Government claimed that the country will save close to N6.7 trillion if fuel subsidy payment is discontinued.
Nigeria has spent N13.7 trillion on fuel subsidy in the last 13 years, according to Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.

.Queues return to Lagos filling stations, product sells for N600

Meanwhile, fuel queues have resurfaced within Lagos metropolis, due to hike in the pump price of petrol by the NNPCL, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.
NAN correspondent, who moved round the Lagos metropolis, observed that most filling stations have adjusted their pump price.
The correspondent also noticed that fuel is sold between N580 and N600 at most filling stations, owned by both major and independent marketers.
The hike in price of petrol is sequel to the increase in ex-depot price of petrol from N446.57 per liter to N580 per liter.
However, the situation has triggered panic buying as motorists raced to filling stations to buy petrol.
There were also queues at Mobil Filling Station on Ikorodu Road, TotalEnergies at Mobolaji Bank-Anthony, Amuf Filling Station at Bariga and Conoil in Ikorodu. while there were vehicles on a long stretch within and outside most of the facilities.
A visit to Northwest Station in Gbagada showed N570 per litre, Mobil at Anthony, N580, Amuf in Palmgrove, N558 and Conoil in Ikeja, N590.
Also, some of the NNPCL retail outlets monitored were selling at N600 per litre.
Consequently, the development led to queues extending to major roads from those facilities, compounding traffic woe.

Fuel sells for N640 per litre in Awka
Similarly, the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise called fuel, has risen from N530 to N640 per litre in Awka, the capital of Anambra.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Correspondent who monitored the situation in Awka on Tuesday reports that independent marketers adjusted their pumps on Tuesday morning.
The increase was against the price range of between N530 and N540 which prevailed until Tuesday.
The NNPC in the town was not selling as it was closed to customers.
However, RainOil outlets in Awka were still selling at N600 per litre as at press time.
Some motorists expressed shock over the sudden increase in PMS price.
Mr. Anthony Umeh said he was just recovering from the effect of subsidy removal before the recent increase.
Fuel queues resurface in Lagos as pump price hits N600
Umeh said it was unfair that one could only get eight litres of PMS with N5,000 in a country that is one of the largest producers of crude oil in Africa.
“The increase is unfortunate, normally ₦5,000 will give me 25 litres but I just got eight litres.
“This is unacceptable in a crude oil-rich Nigeria,” he said.
In a reaction, Mr. Chinedu Anyaso, Chairman of IPMAN, Enugu Depot Community in charge of Anambra, Ebonyi and Enugu, acknowledged that there was an increase in price of products.
Anyaso said the adjustment was as a result price list issued by NNPCL.

.We adjusted prices based on market realities- Kyari

Also, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd., has attributed the increase in the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) also known as petrol to the market realities.
The company’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Malam Mele Kyari, stated this in an interview with newsmen shortly after a private meeting with the Vice President, Kashim Shettima, at the Presidential Villa, on Tuesday, in Abuja.
Kyari explained that the increase in the price of PMS has nothing to do with supply issues, adding that there is a robust supply of the product in the country.
“I don’t have the details at this moment. You know we have the Marketing Wing of the company, they adjust prices depending on the market realities.
“And this is the meaning of making sure that the market regulates itself so that prices will go up and sometimes they will come down also and this is really what we are seeing in reality this is how the market works.
“There is no supply issue completely when you go to the market you buy the product you come to the market and sell it at prevailing market price there is nothing to do with supply we don’t have supply issues.
“There is robust supply, we have over 32 days supply in the country, that’s not a problem. What I know is that the market forces will regulate the market, prices will go down sometimes and sometimes it will go up, but there will be stability of supply,” he said.
He assured Nigerians that the policy was the best way for the country going forward.
“And I am also assuring Nigerians that this is the best way to go forward so that we can adjust prices when the market comes.
“I know that a number of companies have imported petroleum; so many of them are online. Market forces have started to play, people have confidence in the market and private sector people are now importing products.
”And there is no way they can recover their cost if they cannot take market reflective cost,” Kyari said.
On his part, Alhaji Farouk Ahmed, Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), said the authority doesn’t set price of the product but the market determines itself.
”As a regulator, you know I told you back in May we are not going to be setting prices, the market will determine itself and as you saw back in early June when prices came out it was based on the cost of importation plus other logistics of distribution and of course the profit margin by the importer.
”This market is deregulated, and is open to all participants. As mentioned also yesterday (Monday) when I was in Lagos, we have about 56 marketing companies that have applied for and obtained licenses to import,” he said.
He insisted that the authority as a regulator would not put a cap on the price because it was not part of those importing the product.

.Forex a major challenge – IPMAN

Also, the National President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Chinedu Okoronkwo on Tuesday explained the sudden hike in the pump price of petroleum products in Nigeria.
Okoronkwo blamed the sudden hike in the pump price of petrol on the cost of dollars.
He explained that petroleum products are imported to Nigeria using dollars, hence the increase.
Speaking on Arise Television, the IPMAN National President advocated the use of Compressed Natural Gas, CNG, as an alternative to petrol.
According to Okoronkwo: “This business is done with dollars, remember the rate of dollars now is in one window and not like we had several others, where CBN will give around N400 while the black market will be around the region of N700 but now there is no more second window.
“Today the dollar is around N800 and in a deregulated regime, what determines the price of anything is the cost. The product is not refined here, everything is imported.
“If we want to achieve something, there are other alternatives we have proffered. The CNG is something this nation needs to seriously look into; so it would be a matter of choice if you want to use gas or petrol.
“The price has really gone up because of the fundamentals in the market which has to do with the dollars.”
This is coming shortly after the petrol price was increased to over N500 per litre following the removal of fuel subsidy.

.Price poses socio- economic threat to Nigerians- NLC
.Asks government to retrace steps

Meanwhile, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in separate reaction condemned the decision of the Tinubu-led administration to seek the approval of the National Assembly to obtain another tranche of external loans worth N500billion from the World Bank for the purposes of carrying out a palliative measure to cushion the effect of fuel hike in the country.
It also described the proposal to pay N8,000 to each of the 12 million poorest Nigerian households for a period of six months as insults on Nigerians.
The President of NLC, Joe Ajaero, in a statement in Abuja yesterday, said the policy of the present administration was targeted at making the poor poorer while the rich continue to get richer.
The congress said the reckless borrowing of the federal government is rather enriching the the already rich to the detriment of the poor masses.
It recalled that the U$800million which was already proposed before the devaluation of the Naira by the government was worth about N400bn then but is now worth about N650bn after devaluation.
According to the congress, “It is
from this, it proposes to bring out N500bn for distribution.
“The proposal to pay N8,000 to each of the so-called 12 million poorest Nigerian households for a period of six months insults our collective intelligence and makes a mockery of our patience and abiding faith in social dialogue which the government may have alluded to albeit pretentiously.
“The further proposal to pay National Assembly members the sum of N70b and the judiciary N36bn is the most insensitive, reckless and brazen diversion of our collective patrimony into the pockets of public officers whose sworn responsibility it is to protect our nation’s treasury.
“We believe that this may amount to hush money and outright bribery of the other arms of government to acquiesce the aberration.
“It is unconscionable that a government that has foisted so much hardship on the people within nearly two months of coming into office will make a proposal that clearly rewards the rich in public office to the detriment of the poor.
“What this means all this while is that the government is seeking ways of robbing the very poor Nigerians so that the rich can become richer.
“There is no other way to explain the proposal to pay a misery sum of N8,000 Naira to each of the mysterious poorest
12 million Households for six months which amounts to N48,000 and pay just 469 National Legislators N70b or about N149m each while the Judiciary that has about 72 Appeal Court Judges, 33 National Industrial Court Judges, 75 Federal High Court Judges and 21 Supreme Court Judges and a total of about 201 Judges receives a total of N35b or N174m each.
“If these other two arms are projected to receive this, what members of the Executive Council will receive is better left to the imagination of Nigerians perhaps, the balance N150b will go to them.
“These proposals are not just unacceptable to Nigerian workers but are also dictatorial thus undemocratic.
“It is not a product of social dialogue which would have produced collectively negotiated outcomes by critical national stakeholders.
“We had thought that this government given the circumstances of its emergence ought to have been a stickler to all the preachments of the fine tenets of democracy which would have shored up its image and begins to build legitimacy for itself unfortunately, it seems to be in a hurry to abandon the remaining pretensions to democracy that the previous administration left behind.
“Furthermore, the actions of the federal government shows that it does not have
trust and confidence in the very Presidential Committee that it set up to take a comprehensive look at the consequences of the Petroleum Product price hike and make recommendations on the way forward to ameliorate its negative impacts
upon the citizenry.
“What this means is that the government may actually not be
interested in the work of the Committee and may have used it as a window to pretend to Nigerians that it is taking steps towards dealing with the consequences
of its policies.
“We do not understand why the federal government would seek to undermine itself as its action suggests.
“Why not wait for the Committee to sit and come up with the needed recommendations which would then guide government’s fiscal and monetary policies? Seeking to borrow and going to the NASS for an approval means that it has already taken decisions on what it wants to do and has a budget thus is in need to borrow to fund these activities.
“Like they will tell you; it is a fait accompli.We reiterate that we do not have confidence in how the data for the never changing 12m poorest households was generated neither do we have confidence in the mechanisms being pursued for the distribution of the cash transfers.
“The history of such transfers especially the school feeding programmes even while the children were at home due to Covid-19 pandemic and the Trader Moni saga fills Nigerians with trepidation reminding us of the continued heist of our collective resources by those in Public office.
“We have continually demanded that this register be made public but, it seems to have become an instrument of the occult shrouded in mystery and wielded by the grandmasters whenever opportunities like this presents themselves.
“It is important to inform Nigerians that despite having shown our readiness to commence work in the Committees, the federal government which convenes the
meetings is yet to inaugurate the National Steering Committee thus stalling the Work of the Proposed Committees.
“If the government had wanted an expedited action which Nigerians want more, the best approach would have been to quickly inaugurate the Committees and allow them do their work but as we write, nothing has been done except the continuation of the borrowing spree and subsequent allocation to themselves.
“NLC would not want to continue to be part of the usual charade of Committees with outcomes that are never implemented.
“We would not want to waste the time of Nigerians especially workers on Committees that have already been programmed to fail thus ignored.
“We do not want to provide a cover for government to get away with the hardship it has imposed on the people.
“We do not want to legitimize impunity. As a result, if the government does not want to stop these fortuitous actions that it is pursuing in the name of palliatives, we will be forced to constructively review our engagement with the government on this vexatious issue and take matters in
our own hands”

.CPPE boss tasks FG on immediate intervention
‘Economic hardship already unbearable’

Chief Executive Officer, Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE), Dr. Muda Yusuf, has called on the federal government to intervene urgently to alleviate the sufferings of the people.
This is coming on the heels of the recent increase in fuel pump price.
The price of Petrol Tuesday increased to about N617 per litre in Abuja, and N600 in Lagos.
Speaking with Daily Champion, Dr. Muda Yusuf said, it is difficult to justify this new increase.
He said, the economic hardship being experienced by most Nigerians is already at an unbearable threshold.
“The livelihoods of many citizens are already at risk. The government needs to intervene urgently to alleviate the sufferings of the people,” he said.
A visit to an NNPC filling station in the Central area of Abuja confirmed that the fuel price has now been adjusted from N539 to N617 per litre.
In Lagos, a bus driver who spoke to Daily Champion said he bought a liter of fuel N600, leading to the increase in transportation fair witnessed by Lagosians today.
The driver who spoke on the condition of anonymity maintained that transport fair will increase further because there appears to be fuel scarcity in Lagos, adding that long cues are gradually surfacing.
Meanwhile, the immediate reason could not be ascertained but it is not unconnected to the recent projections by oil marketers that fuel price will hit N700 per litre soon due to the depreciation of Naira against dollar.

. Ogun citizens in pains hike

Similarly, in Abeokuta, the Ogun state capital, the price of petrol has increased to N650 per litre.
A visit to some petrol stations on Tuesday showed that the fuel price had been adjusted from N539 to N617 per litre.
The development has caused tension and panic buying as queues of motorists sprung up in some filling stations.
This is coming just as fuel dealers, particularly those independent marketers, who have supplies have also resorted to hoarding the product across the state.
In Abeouta metropolis, the Ogun state capital, PMS is currently being dispensed to motorists at a galloping price ranging between N539 and N670, while same product was selling at N620 in Ijebu – Ode and Sango – Ota areas, all at few fuelling stations owned by members of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN).
Our correspondent who monitored the situation in Abeokuta also observed that marketers had at the earlier hours of Tuesday, dispensed petroleum at the varying prices of between N505 and N525 before news filtered in about the new price regime allegedly announced by the NNPCL.
This development however, compelled most fuelling stations that have the product, particularly within the Abeokuta metropolis to resort to hoarding the product for “fear of the unknown”.
When contacted, IPMAN State Chairman, Otunba Femi Adelaja, who reacted to the development, expressed surprises over the new pump price regime which he said caught members of his association unaware.
“We are taken by surprise too, but I want to state that we will need to meet with necessary stakeholders on this matter before we can make any categorical stance on this matter”.
Speaking to Daily Champion, some residents lamented over the new price saying it has berthed hardship for them.
According to Bolaji Ajasa, a taxi driver lamented that the new pump price has affected his business as many commuters have resorted to trekking with the hike in transport fare.