The Federal Government, while absolving self of any blame in the recent hike in the price of petroleum pump rice, said among other reasons, the crisis in the Middle East might have tended to distort internationally oil market.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), on Wednesday, it would be recalled, raised the pump price of petrol.
PMS raised from N897 per litre to N1, 030 in Abuja; from N855 to N998 in Lagos; N1, 070 in North-East; N1,025 in other South-West States; N1,045 in South-East and N1,075 in South-South.
However, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, said NNPCL’s decision was not influenced by the Federal Government.
The Minister explained that the NNPCL made the decision in response to prevailing circumstances in the energy industry, emphasising that it did not act on any instruction from the Federal Government, which he said can no longer fix prices of petroleum products, in line with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
He said since the subsidy regime ended in May 2023, the NNPCL had only been paying differential to keep the price within the range it had been, but the company said it could no longer absorb the losses.
“The differential you’re seeing is a result of different factors. One of them is the crisis in the Middle East. There’s volatility in the market. Therefore, the prices of petroleum products are going up, consistent with what is happening with other operators in the industry globally.
“Secondly, NNPC cannot continue to absorb these losses for Nigeria because as a limited liability company, it would be operating at a loss,” he said.
The Minister appealed to Nigerians to understand the situation, assuring that prices would eventually decrease.
