The Nigerian national petroleum company has said there were no immediate plans to increase fuel prices.
Addressing newsmen in Abuja, Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the NNPC, Muhammad Garba-Deen said it already has enough fuel in stock and thus had no reason to increase prices
He said, “As for this moment, there is absolutely no plan to do that and no need to that, because we have more than enough supply, we have very robust stock of product in our custody.
“In addition to that, we also have long term procurement contract with our suppliers. The usual reason that would necessitate a review of price at the moment has been taken care of. “We have long-term procurement contract with our suppliers; we have more than enough supply to last us throughout the ember months and beyond.”
The pump price of petrol in Nigeria rose to N145 per litre earlier this year after President Muhammadu Buhari removed fuel subsidy.
The government said the decision to remove the subsidy was as a result of the fall in oil price and non-availability of foreign exchange.
The government however, said the liberalisation of petrol supply and distribution will allow marketers and any Nigerian entity willing to supply PMS to source for their forex and import PMS to ensure availability of products in all locations of the country.
According to the government, the resultant fuel scarcity has created an abnormal increase in price, resulting in Nigerians paying between N150 and N300 per litre as prevalent hoarding, smuggling and diversion of products have reduced volumes made available to citizens.
Source: News Express.
