Seething anger is brewing in Abuja over the unexpected hike in the cost of Premium Motor Spirit (popularly called petrol) in filling stations in the Federal Capital City as residents woke up on Tuesday to a 12% hike on Tuesday morning.
Residents rushed to other retail outlets, other than the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited NNPCL) which had not effected the change to the new price of N617 per litre, up from N538, but were soon disappointed as the ripple effect of price increases caught up with other outlets.
Independent oil marketers confirmed the increase in the cost of petrol, because, according to them, a shift in price by the NNPCL stations will have a rebound effect all over.
Mohammed Shuaibu, the Secretary of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Abuja-Suleja zone, said that even though other marketers are gradually importing the commodity, the NNPCL remains the major importer of petrol into Nigeria presently.
Shuaibu said that the price this Tuesday morning at NNPCL stations is N617/litre in Abuja.
The crazy jump in fuel price, it would be recalled, began within hours of President Bola Tinubu’s swearing-in on May 29, 2023, when he unexpectedly announced the withdrawal of fuel subsidy, more than a month before the stipulated date in the 2023 Appropriation law. The Act put the commencement date at 1st July, 2023.
The pump price of the commodity continued an upward spiral for three days until the major importer, NNPCL, announced a new price template that put the price at between N480 and N550 per litre.