President Bola Tinubu assured Nigerians on Tuesday that there will be no rise in the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), commonly known as petrol, across the nation.
Ajuri Ngelale, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, clarified that the petroleum market has been deregulated and will remain so.
He stressed that the government intends to address inefficiencies within the midstream and downstream petroleum sectors to maintain current prices. This will be achieved without reverting to the previous policy in the petroleum industry.
This announcement comes less than 24 hours after the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited affirmed that there are no plans to increase petrol prices. In a concise statement on Monday evening, the NNPC urged Nigerians to disregard speculations about a potential price hike. This response appeared to be in reaction to the Nigeria Labour Congress’ (NLC) warning.
NLC President Joe Ajaero had cautioned on Monday that if the NNPC Limited raised petrol prices again, the NLC would initiate an indefinite strike.
Since President Bola Tinubu’s announcement on May 29 that the “fuel subsidy is gone,” the government-owned company has repeatedly raised petrol prices. Rates have surged from approximately N185 to around N500, and even soared to N617 last month. These increases have sparked outrage and led to a nationwide protest two weeks ago.
