Barely 48 hours after the newly sworn in President, Bola Tinubu pronounced the end of fuel subsidy regime in the country, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has unveiled a hike in the retail pump price for petrol in all its outlets across the country.
The new prices ranges between N557 to N488 per litre depending on the state the station is located
In Lagos and Abuja, the retail prices at NNPC mega filling stations vary between N488 and N537 per litre, while the price in Borno state is N557 per litre.
It was not immediately clear what the current ex-depot price is at the moment to determine what the price of the commodity would be in other filling stations owned by Major and independent products marketers.
But a price adjustment schedule issued by the NNPC showed the adjustment was from an average of N189 per litre to an average of N488 and N557 per litre (about N194.7 percent) across the country.
Ex-depot price is the cost paid by independent petroleum products marketers to lift products from NNPC fuel depots before transportation to their retail outlets for distribution.
To arrive at the final retail price at the filling station, the marketers would add the cost of transportation, storage, thru put charge and other charges spelt out in the pricing template by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), which is the regulatory authority in the downstream sector of the petroleum industry.
The unveiling of the new retail price by the NNPC is coming less than 24 hours after the NNPC Group Chief Executive, Mele Kyari, urged consumers to avoid panic buying in the wake of Monday’s pronouncement by Tinubu on fuel subsidy removal.
Although he acknowledged the possibility of an adjustment in the retail pump price of petrol, Kyari did not say it was going to be immediate, particularly against the background of the clarification by the Presidency that the pronouncement by Tinubu on fuel subsidy removal was not going to take immediate effect.
Meanwhile, this is coming against the background of the warning by the Central Labour movement, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) for the Tinubu administration not dare the people with the subsidy removal policy.
The NLC is a statement by its National President, Joe Ajaero, titled: “Do Not Dare The People”,
said the worker’s body was outraged by Tinubu’ pronouncement on plans to remove “‘fuel subsidy’ without due consultations with critical stakeholders or without putting in place palliative measures to cushion the harsh effects of the ‘subsidy removal'”.
Within hours of his pronouncement, the NLC noted that the entire country was thrown into confusion, as a result of a combination of service shutdowns by filling stations in anticipation of a hike in product prices.
Ajaero said that within a few hours of the pronouncement by Tinubu, the retail price in some filling stations jumped to over 300 percent.
“By his insensitive decision, President Tinubu on his inauguration day brought tears and sorrow to millions of Nigerians, instead of hope. He equally devalued the quality of their lives by over 300 percent and counting.
“It is no heroism to commit against the people this level of cruelty at any time, let alone on an inauguration day. If he is expecting a medal for taking this decision, he (Tinubu) would certainly be disappointed to receive curses for the people of Nigeria who consider this decision not only a slight, but a big betrayal,” Ajaero said.
He said the entire Labour movement and its affiliate groups, were staunchly opposed to the pronouncement by Tinubu, saying its members were demanding the immediate withdrawal of the policy.
The implications of the decision at this time, the NLC said, were too grave for the country’s security and well-being of Nigerians, wondering if Tinubu gave a thought to why his predecessors in office refused to implement this highly injurious policy decision.
Tinubu, a prominent critic of the subsidy removal by previous governments, announced in his inaugural speech on Monday that the era of fuel subsidy payment was gone.
Although he backtracked 24 hours later to say that the policy would not take off immediately, this did not offer sufficient restraint to the build up of long queues of anxious motorists and other categories of consumers of petrol who thronged the filling stations in anticipation of a possible hike in the retail price of the commodity.
The queues, which were notice initially in Abuja and environs, have since spread to other parts of the country and still growing.
