President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, through his spokesperson on August 15, 2023, reassured the populace that fuel price increase is not imminent. He asserted that the fuel market has been deregulated and that it will continue to remain so.
The government’s focus is on addressing inefficiencies in the midstream and downstream petroleum sectors to maintain current sectors.
According to Ngelale, “There is no price increase at this time. Mr. President believes that by addressing existing inefficiencies, we can sustain current pricing within the deregulated midstream and downstream petroleum sector.”
The announcement came within 34 hours of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited denying plans to raise petrol pump prices.
NNPC urged Nigerians to ignore rumors of an impending petrol price hike, in response to the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) warning.
It should be noted that there have been previous cases of increase in petrol prices by NNPC, following president Tinubu’s declaration on May 29 that fuel subsidy has been cancelled. Fuel price rose from around N185 to approximately N599, and further escalated to N617 in July. These hikes led to a nationwide protest two weeks ago.
