NNPC defends increase in price of petrol

*Says change within PPPRA band, CNPP kicks

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has attributed the recent increase in a litre of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) from N141 to N145 a litre to market forces.

The Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, NNPC, Garba Deen Muhammad told The Guardian yesterday that the price adjustment in its downstream facilities was still within the price band of N135 and N145 per litre approved by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), the statutory body in charge of petroleum products pricing.

Muhammad explained: “We cannot afford not to continue to import. Market forces instigated the litre adjustment in the price of PMS and we are not breaking the law. We are still operating within the PPPRA template.

“Right now, we have about 1.6 billion litres of petrol in our reserves and our mandate is to continue to make PMS available to the consumers.” He assured that major and independent marketers would not increase their prices above N145 a litre.

Meanwhile, the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) has asked the Federal Government to shelve any plan to increase the pump price of petrol considering the nation’s harsh economic situation.

In a statement yesterday, the CNPP Secretary General, Chief Willy Ezugwu, said since the rumour of fuel price increase began spreading, the body language of some government officials and their statements pointed to the fact that the increase was sure to come if the people failed to resist the plan.

Ezugwu said: “The CNPP is currently mobilising leaders of the civil society groups for a mother-of-all resistance if the Federal Government dares to increase the pump price of petrol at any time. Nigerians should not be taken unawares at this time. Those who are conversant with the antics of the current administration know that any time such a rumour and the attendant denials by the Federal Government begin, the time for the increase is nearer than imagined.”

He said: “We join well-meaning Nigerians and the masses of this country to say no to another fuel price hike. The CNPP is set to lead the struggle at this time and the resistance shall be total.”

The CNPP scribe said Nigerians could no longer put their hopes in the organised labour to fight for them. Since 2012, “it became obvious that the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC), and their allied unions have not proven to be selfless partners with the poor masses in times of need and cannot be trusted at this time or even in the future.”

Ezugwu maintained that the labour unions had failed to defend Nigerians in the past, saying, “the only hope for the ordinary citizen in the country at a time like this is the CNPP and the coalition of civil society groups.”