NNPC Rules Out Hike in Petrol Pump Price in March

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

Nigerians have been assured that the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), commonly called petrol, will not be increased this month.

This assurance was given by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) via a statement signed by its Group General Manager in charge of the Group Public Affairs Division, Mr Kennie Obateru.

In the statement issued on Sunday, Mr Obateru appealed to motorists and consumers of the commodity not to panic buy or hoard the product.

There had been reports that oil marketers will increase the price of the fuel at their retail stations on the back of the recent rise in the price of crude oil in the global market.

When the downstream petroleum sector was to be partially deregulated by the federal government last year, citizens were told that prices of petrol would be determined by the international price of black gold.

As of then, the Brent crude, which Nigeria’s oil is priced, was sold around $40 per barrel, but last week, it traded at $67 per barrel, fuelling speculations that the retail price of petrol may likely go for N180.

Last week, most NNPC retail stations in Lagos, according to findings by Business Post, were selling the product at N162 per litre. A few filling stations reportedly sold for N180 per litre at the weekend in Lagos.

But NNPC, in the statement, has ruled out any increment in the ex-depot price of petrol in March 2021 because it does not want to “jeopardize ongoing engagements with organised labour and other stakeholders on an acceptable framework that will not expose the ordinary Nigerian to any hardship.”

As a result, the state-owned oil agency has warned “petroleum products marketers not to engage in an arbitrary price increase or hoarding of petrol in order not to create artificial scarcity and unnecessary hardship for Nigerians.”

According to the NNPC, it has “enough stock of petrol to keep the nation well supplied for over 40 days and urged motorists to avoid panic buying.”

The corporation also called on relevant regulatory authorities to “step up monitoring of the activities of marketers with a view to sanctioning those involved in products hoarding or arbitrary increase of pump price.”