The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris Malagi has said that the Federal Government is not responsible for the increase in the petrol pump price.
This comes as the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited announced a hike in the fuel price to above N1000 per liter on Wednesday.
According to NNPCL, PMS will sell for 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.
As expected this triggered reactions among Nigerians and the NLC who have asked the President to work towards reversing the increment.
The minister’s position however is that the government should not be held responsible for the latest hike in petrol price.
According to him, 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, as the government can no longer fix prices of petroleum products, in line with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
He said with the subsidy regime ending since 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 urged Nigerians to continue to show understanding with the NNPCL and the government, assuring that in the long run the prices would ultimately come down.
He said the government would continue to invest the savings from removal of subsidy to improve other critical sectors like healthcare, education, infrastructure, and security.
He added that the initial investments of the government in CNG would also reduce the impact even as more operators invest.
