Victor EzejaNigerians have called on the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), to reduce the pump price of petroleum products such as Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) also known as petrol and diesel.
They asked the national oil company to make the commodities cheaper as the rate of exchange between the naira and the dollar has dropped in recent times.
They made the call while responding to NNPCL’s statement debunking a rumour that circulated earlier about the purported increase in prices of petroleum products.
Some posts that went viral on Wednesday had claimed that NNPCL has slashed its petrol price from N568 down to N560 per litre. Another post also claimed that the company has adjusted the pump price of petrol, nationwide with Lagos being ₦488; Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti – ₦500; Abuja, Plateau, Nasarawa, Kogi, Benue and Niger – ₦537.
However, the NNPCL spokesperson, Femi Soneye, in a statement on Wednesday, said the reports are “false” and urged Nigerians to disregard them.
The company said it is committed to sustaining a sufficient supply of petroleum products from all its retail outlets across the country.
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The statement reads: “The NNPC Limited wishes to clarify rumours suggesting a price adjustment for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) and Automotive Gas Oil (Diesel) at its retail stations nationwide.
“The company asserts that these reports are false and urges Nigerians to disregard them entirely.
“NNPC Ltd. reaffirms its commitment to sustaining the current sufficiency in petroleum products supply across all its retail stations in the country.”
Reacting to the statement posted on X (formerly Twitter), a user by name Cyril Onyekachi, wrote: “We expect the prices to come down in consideration to the Dollar rate.”
“Dollar is dropping, so prices should also drop. I remember when the USD increased, petroleum products prices follow suit. If the government agencies are not being truthful who should?” Olayinka Akeem stated.
“Dollar is dropping, maybe prices of PMS and AGO (diesel) should plummet as well,” another X user with name TeeTalk wrote.
Another user Identified simply as Godfrey, lamented the high price of petrol and the impact on businesses and Nigerians. He wrote: “Drop the price of PMS you guys are doing nothing to make Nigerians happy.”
“Mr Olufemi Soneye, please as one of the senior officers in NNPC my take on this is that you people should look for a way by which the petrol price can be reduced, for the sake of the innocent poor masses,” another X user Taiwo Asebiomo wrote.
Some netizens tackled NNPCL for failing to publish the list of current prices in its retail outlets across the country in the press release, adding that such is breeding confusion among Nigerians on the actual prices it is selling. The NNPCL statement merely debunked the rumour, but Nigerians expected the company to clarify on the current prices across states in the country.
Since the removal of subsidies on petrol by the President Bola Tinubu administration last year, the pump price of petrol has jumped by over 300 per cent.
According to the Petrol Price Watch for February 2024 published by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the average retail price paid by consumers for petrol increased by 157.57 per cent to N679.36 in the last one year. Also, the average retail price of diesel increased by 50.20 per cent to N1,257.06.
Since the removal of subsidy, the Federal Government has stopped fixing prices hence the differences across states in the country due to the cost of logistics for conveying the products to various destinations from depots.
Also, the prices of petroleum products were expected to go up and down in response to exchange rate and global crude oil prices because Nigeria is currently import-dependent.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
