Senate President Godswill Akpabio has assured Nigerians that there will be no further increase in fuel prices, following the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited’s (NNPC Ltd) decision to end its exclusive purchase agreement with Dangote Refinery. This move allows other marketers to buy fuel directly from the refinery.
Akpabio made this statement on Thursday while inaugurating the renovated Senate Press Corps Centre at the National Assembly in Abuja.
Fuel prices had recently surged to between ₦998 and ₦1,030 per litre at various NNPC Ltd outlets in Lagos and Abuja.
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However, the Senate President stated that with this new development, fuel prices would stabilize, ensuring adequate circulation across the country. He added that increased supply of fuel nationwide would lead to lower prices.
“I don’t expect any increase in pump price. I will expect the market forces to determine. And I expect that now that the NNPCL is no longer going to bring petroleum products into the country, it means those who have the capacity will bring. And you know, the more the product is available, the cheaper the price.
“So, at the beginning, if I look at the increase. I believe strongly that in the next… with the production from Dangote and the other refineries, when they become functional, and they found that it is now open to all, they will bring in good products into the country,” Mr Akpabio said.
The senate president stated that the National Assembly may intervene if there is another increase in the pump price of fuel.
“I can assure you that you may not even see pump prices. If there is an increase in pump prices, we will access it, and if there is a need for us to intervene, we will do so.
“If you look at it, actually, what is happening is not compromising, it is deregulation. If you are taking away the consumer subsidy, and then you want people to pay for the actual price of what they consume, it means if you have five cars, you will now use one or two. You understand? It simply means that you are going to stop the idea of subsidy in order to make sure that the monies are used for other things” Mr Akpabio added.
Return Petrol Price To What It Was In June 2023 – TUC Tells FG
The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has called for a rollback of petrol prices to the levels they were at in June 2023.
“We want the price of the product to go below what it was before; not just reverse to what it was before but to go below,” said TUC President, Festus Osifo, at a press briefing in Abuja on Thursday.
He asked the government to specially intervene in the sector by giving foreign exchange to Dangote Refinery at $1/N1,000 and not at the current $over 1/N1,600 exchange rate to crash petrol prices
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“The solution we are proposing if implemented will take us to the price we had as of June last year,” Osifo stated, stressing that “there is no government in the world that doesn’t intervene in its critical sector” and that the Federal Government “shouldn’t leave it (the oil sector) to the vagaries and gyration of our naira”.
Since May 2023, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has raised petrol pump prices from ₦184 per litre in Lagos to ₦998. By June 2023, the price per litre in Lagos had risen to around ₦450.
On Thursday, the TUC leader emphasized the importance of petrol being available, affordable, and accessible to all Nigerians, noting that the commodity is essential for every household, even for those without vehicles.
The trade union placed its demands along the lines of affordability, availability and accessibility, saying, “We want the Federal Government to, through Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), give all marketers licenses to lift petrol from the Dangote Refinery.”
Osifo urged the NNPCL to explore sourcing refined petrol from alternative suppliers if the Dangote Refinery is unable to meet the current daily demands of Nigerians.
“If it is not available, it is a problem. If, for example, the production from Dangote Refinery is less than 15 million litres per day, it is not sufficient.
“So, while efforts are being made to ramp up production from Dangote Refinery, what we are demanding is that we should look for every other means as we are ramping up production, we should source for that difference and bring it in for a while until Dangote can get to that level where the production is sufficient to get to all nooks and crannies of Nigeria. For us, that is key because it will address the issue of availability,” the TUC boss stated.