The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, (PPPRA) has bowed to pressure, as it deleted an earlier published template announcing that the new price of petrol has reached N212.6 per litre.
The link of the template could not be found a few hours after the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) insisted that there was no increment in the ex-depot price of petrol.
It would be recalled that the template which was published on the night of Thursday, March 11, 2021, showed that the retail price of petrol would sell between a market band of N209.61 and N212.61.
With ex-depot price standing at N206.42 per litre, the March template showed that the landing cost for petrol per litre is N189.61.
The statement issued by the PPPRA soon sent Nigerians queuing up at petrol stations in order to get as much fuel as can be gotten before the alleged new price goes into full effect.
In the last few weeks, marketers of the product have severally called on the government to increase the pump price of fuel, stating that selling at the current price, they were running at a loss.
Reacting to the alleged increase, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva told newsmen in Abuja that until consultation with Organised Labour was concluded, that there was no such increase in the pump price of petrol.
” Irrespective of the source of that information, I want to assure you that it is completely untrue.
“Neither Mr President who is the Minister of Petroleum Resources nor myself who deputise for him as minister of state has approved that petrol price should be increased by one naira.
“I therefore urge you to disregard this misleading information,” Sylva said.
In case you missed it: The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has insisted that the ex-depot price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly known as Petrol, will not be increased in March.