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The selling pump price of premium motor spirit (PMS) otherwise known as petrol but in Nigeria popularly known as Fuel has been increased to N151.56 per litre with effect from September 2, 2020.
Also there was an increase in the Electritcity Price. Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) had approved the Multi Year Tariff Order 2020.
Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) and Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC) have commenced implementation of the new Service Reflective Tariff Plan.
This was disclosed in an internal memo which was seen by AUTHENTIC NEWS GIANT and issued by the Pipeline and Product Marketing Company (PPMC), Ibadan depot, to all the stakeholders on September 2, 2020, and signed by the Depot Manager, D.O. Abalaka.
The PPMC internal memo reads, ‘’Please be informed that a new product price adjustment has been effected on our payment platform. To this end, the price of premium motor spirit (PMS) is now one hundred and fifty-one naira, fifty-six kobo (N151.56) per litre. This is effective 2nd September 2020.
This is coming barely a day after the Managing Director of 11 Plc (formerly Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc), Adetunji Oyebanji, who also doubles as the Chairman of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, said that the pump price of petrol should be closer to N155 per litre.
The marketers had been selling petrol at a retail price of between N148 and N150 per litre, while the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) through its retail outlets have been selling at N145 per litre in August as the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) remained silent.
Nigerians Pay More For Fuel As Depot Price Hits N151.56
Petrol stations across the country increased the price of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as petrol, on Thursday.
The prices ranged from between N155 and N162 per litre across the country as observed.
The increase was triggered after the product’s depot price was increased on Wednesday from N138.62 to N151.56, according to an internal memo from the Pipelines and Product Marketing Company (PPMC).
The PPMC is a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
According to the memo, the new product price adjustment will take effect from September 2.
However, it did not state the Expected Open Market Price of the commodity.
Meanwhile, the Minority Caucus in the House of Representatives has rejected the increase in the pump price.
“This is because such increase will directly result in more hardship on our citizens, particularly at this critical time when majority of Nigerians, across the country, are struggling to survive under the burden of high cost of living and low purchasing power occasioned by the prevailing economic challenges,” the Caucus said in a statement signed by Minority Leader, Ndidi Elumelu.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has also rejected the price increase.
Monthly Change
In March, the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), a federal government agency, said it will start the modulation of petroleum products prices on a monthly basis from April 1.
PPPRA Executive Secretary, Mr Abdulkadir Saidu, at a press conference, said the price modulation will be determined by market forces, including the price of crude oil.
The PPPRA said it will hold several engagements with petroleum marketers in a bid to secure their buy-in as the prices of their products fluctuate based on market forces.
The prices have alternated since then every month.
But the Zonal Chairman, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, South- West, Mr Dele Tajudeen, told one of our correspondents that the association had decided that the pump price would be N162 per litre when the ex-depot price was increased to N151.56.
Asked what the pump price would be following the reduction of the ex-depot price to N147.67, he said the association would decide on that later on Wednesday if the ex-depot price remained the same.
“We will add whatever the NNPC has added to our buying price to our selling price,” Tajudeen added.
Petrol price was increased by marketers to between N148 and N150/litre in August from a band of N140.80 to N143.80.
Following the announcement of the new depot price, many filling stations in Ogun and Lagos states were shut on Wednesday as marketers awaited further clarifications from the PPMC.
The Federal Government increased the petrol price a day after power distribution companies hiked electricity tariffs across the country.
The petrol price hike generated angry reactions from the Nigeria Labour Congress, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria and other major groups in the country on Wednesday.
Small businesses will be hard hit, MAN warns
The acting Director-General, Manufacturing Association of Nigeria, Mr Ambrose Oruche, in an interview with one of our correspondents, said the poor and small businesses that depended on the PMS to power their generators would be hard hit.
He said it was important for the government to introduce measures to cushion the effect of the deregulation in the sector.
Oruche stated, “To reduce the impact, government should do more in ensuring power generation is big and distribution is efficient, and ensure that people get at least 20 hours of light in a day to reduce dependence on the PMS.
“Government should find a way of compensating the SMEs to stay in business through tax rebates or grants to remain in business and stay competitive.”
Nigerians are being taken for granted by this govt – NLC
ut the Nigeria Labour Congress said by increasing the fuel pump price three times within three months, the Federal Government was taking Nigerians for granted.
The NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, said the union could no longer guarantee industrial harmony in view of the development.
He said Nigerians and the NLC were shocked by the price increase, “coming at a time when many Nigerians are passing through very peculiar and precarious times.
“It’s like Nigerians are being taken for a ride; the increase in price of petroleum is like adding salt to injury.
“The increase in price of petroleum has happened now more than three times in three months. Only yesterday (Tuesday), they hiked the tariff of electricity. To compound it, they also reduced the interest rate on savings which affected mostly the poor and the vulnerable.
“While rejecting this in the strongest terms, I think Nigerian government is taking Nigerians for granted.”
The congress noted that the government had betrayed the trust of Nigerians and left them vulnerable to economic ravages.
Electricity tariff: Atiku blasts Buhari govt, tells President what Nigerians need
Fuel Price Increase: I warned Nigerians – Fayose
A former Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose, tweeted that the increase was ludicrous particularly coming at a time the whole world was busy finding solutions to the COVID-19 .
He stated, “Just in case those who led the Save Nigeria protests across Nigeria during Peoples Democratic Party government of Dr Goodluck Jonathan are not aware, I warned.”
On its part, the minority caucus in the House of Representatives condemned the increase in pump price of petrol.
The Minority Leader of the House, Ndidu Elumelu, in a statement on Wednesday and titled, ‘Reps caucus demands halt in N151 fuel price increase,’ described the increment as unacceptable.
He warned that it would result in increase in the already high cost of consumer goods and services and worsen the current economic hardships being suffered by Nigerians.
A former President of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, Malachy Ugwumadu, in a chat with one of our correspondents, said the price hike was ill-timed.
He said, “At a time when Nigerians are still reeling under the weight and pains occasioned by COVID-19 pandemic, the time is certainly wrong. Coming on the heels of the hike in electricity tariff renders it both ill-timed and insensitive.”
The Convener of the Concerned Nigeria group, Deji Adeyanju, said the price increase was ill-advised and anti-people.
In an interview Adeyanju said, “The common man can hardly breathe. Buhari now has his hands tightfisted on Nigerians. He wants to make sure that people can no longer survive.
“How do you explain a situation where the country is sinking and going down? The country practically relies on loans to fund its own budget and service its debt.”
Fuel Price: It’s callous – PDP
The Peoples Democratic Party also rejected the increase in the price of petrol as well as the hike in the electricity tariffs . The main opposition party described the increases as callous and unjustifiable.
This was contained in a statement titled ‘PDP rejects N151 fuel price, hike in electricity tariff…Says APC is punishing Nigerians,’ signed by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, in Abuja, on Wednesday.
While demanding an immediate reversal of the prices to avert a national crisis, the party said, “The increase will result in upsurge in costs of goods and services and worsen the biting hardship being faced by Nigerians, who are already impoverished and overburdened by APC-imposed high cost of living in the last five years.”
In its response, the APC, in a statement titled, “APC to PDP: cajole your cronies to return stolen fuel subsidy loot,” signed by its Deputy National Publicity, Yekini Nabena, dismissed the PDP as “shameless.”
It challenged the PDP to come clean of allegations of several years of the pillage of the nation’s resources under the guise of its corruption-tainted fuel subsidy regime.
A foremost economist and Managing Director of Financial Derivatives Company Limited, Mr Bismarck Rewane, in an interview noted that while the rise in global oil prices meant increased revenue from crude oil sales, it would also lead to an increase in the price of petroleum products.
Noting that people’s disposable incomes and productivity had not increased, he said petrol price hike would add more pressure to consumers.
“Until our refineries are fixed or when Dangote refinery comes on stream, the country will continue to have this challenge. Let us manage to minimise the increase in petrol price so that people won’t suffer,” he said.
The Chairman, Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mr Adetunji Oyebanji, had said on Tuesday that the pump price of petrol should be significantly higher than N148 per litre.
Oyebanji, who spoke on CNBC Africa on Tuesday, said, “If you look at the template the PPPRA has been using in setting prices, you will find that if you just apply even the official exchange rate for the month of August, prices at the pump should be significantly higher that where there are today.”
Buhari told to resign over petrol price increment
The National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, has charged President Muhammadu Buhari to resign.
NANS made the call in response to the hike in the pump price of petrol from N148 to N151.56k per litre by the Nigerian government.
A statement by Kowe Odunayo Amos, Coordinator of NANS (Zone D), described the increment as a punishment to Nigerians.
Amos lamented that Buhari’s government was anti-people.
The statement reads, “We find it most embarrassing to read of the increment in the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) to N163.
“No doubt, this government has worsened all the crises it has inherited from the last administration. In fact, the Buhari government is a clear example that we the students must go back to our revolutionary days as we cannot continue to lament.
“As an association, we hereby declare that the Buhari government should all resign or immediately do the following; reverse petrol price to N97, and stop deregulation of the Oil Sector. Stop the devaluation of the Naira now. Increase budgetary allocations to education to 35%. Return to the old stamp duty price now.”
