The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, has assured that petrol will be available nationwide by the weekend.
This assurance came after a meeting with Vice President Kashim Shettima, the National Security Adviser (NSA) Nuhu Ribadu, and the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari.
The meeting was convened by President Bola Tinubu, who is deeply concerned about the ongoing fuel shortages and the resulting hardships faced by Nigerians. Despite a recent price adjustment, queues at petrol stations have persisted nationwide.
The NNPCL Retail Management had on Tuesday implemented price hikes ranging from N855 to N897 per liter, depending on the location, as against the previous N568-N617 prices per liter.
Independent marketers have equally adjusted their prices to between N930 and N1,250 per liter of the product. Organized labor and other stakeholders have expressed concerns over the new petrol price regime.
The Manufacturers’ Association of Nigeria (MAN) and the Nigerian Chamber of Commerce Industry Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) raised concerns that the situation would aggravate inflation and the cost of doing business in the country. The minister said yesterday that the government was not fixing prices.
Lokpobiri also asked Nigerians to shun panic buying, saying “What is important is that products are available in the country, and we believe that between now and the weekend, there will be availability of products across the length and breadth of the country.