According to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, NNPC, Limited, there are no plans to increase the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), better known as gasoline, at the pump.
The corporation advised Nigerians to reject rumors of a new price increase for the premium product in a succinct statement on Monday night.
Joe Ajaero, the president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), had on Monday cautioned the NNPC Limited against another increase in the price of gasoline.
Muhammad Garbadeen, the spokesman for NNPC Limited, stated in a statement that the corporation has no plans to raise the price of gasoline for a third time in a row since the elimination of the gasoline subsidy on May 29, 2023.
“Dear esteemed customers, we at NNPC Retail value your patronage, and we do not have the intention to increase our PMS pump prices as widely speculated.
“Please buy the best quality products at the most affordable prices at our NNPC Retail Stations nationwide,” Garbadeen said.
After President Bola Tinubu declared the end of the gasoline subsidy in his inauguration speech on May 29, 2023, there didn’t seem to be any relief for Nigerians.
The announcement caused the price of a litre of gasoline at the pump to increase from N184 to N500. About two months later, on Tuesday, July 18, 2023, the price increased from N500 to over N617, angering and upsetting many who were left without jobs.
Mele Kyari, the group chief executive officer of NNPC Limited, had attributed the second gasoline price increase to market forces.
Since then, transportation costs have skyrocketed, with the associated economic effects being noticed on food prices. On August 2, 2023, Organised Labor staged a demonstration against the “anti-people policies” of the Tinubu administration.
The Tinubu administration’s unification of foreign exchange rates and growing inflation rates coincided with the unusual rise in gasoline prices from N184 per litre to above N600.
