By Kingston Magare
Nigerians will officially pay N856 and N897 per litre of petrol depending on the location as against the previous N650, this is following an approval by the President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
Petrol stations, including the NNPCL in Lagos, Abuja and other major cities have all adjusted their meters to reflect the new price of the commodity.
There were long queues in some of the petrol stations in Lagos Tuesday as motorists lamented the increase: “This is killing us softly by President Tinubu. I just bought eight litres of petrol for N7,000.
“Yesterday a Neighbour bought five litres for N10, 000 from the black market,” said Ademola Akanbi one of the motorists at the Mobil petrol station along Oyinggbo-Apapa road in Costain, Lagos.
Another motorist, Chris Nzeh, added: “How do they want the average man to survive? We were told that with the removal of fuel subsidy, fuel will be available everywhere in Nigeria, but today, it appears NNPC Ltd. is scamming Nigerians. They are the sole importer of petroleum and they have refused to make refinery work and you ask yourself what is going on in Nigeria. Nigerians should rise and save this country from collapse.’’
Meanwhile, transport fares have increased. “We don’t have any choice but to increase transport fare to meet up. This government is just out to frustrate us,” said a ‘Keke’ operator.
Last Thursday the office of the minister of state for petroleum denied that there was an increase in the price of petrol.
“The federal government is compelled to address the outright falsehoods currently being circulated on social media, which claim that the Minister of Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, has directed the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited to inflate petroleum prices above the approved pump price,” said the statement by Nnemaka Okafor, special adviser, media and communication, to the Minister for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri.
