The Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA) has criticized the recent hike in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, by the NNPC Limited, stating that it forces Nigerians to bear the burden of the company’s inefficiency.
Mr. Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, the Director-General of NECA, expressed these concerns in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja, responding to the new pump price of PMS.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) announced that effective from September 3, the new pump price of PMS would be N897 per litre.
Oyerinde described this increase as not only worrisome but also unfair.
He said, “We had expected that the government would leverage on the momentum created by the completion of the Dangote refinery and the planned commencement of operation of the Port-Harcourt refinery.”
“This is in order to clear the obvious self-inflicted pain on Nigerians and progressively reduce the pump price of petrol. This seems not to be the case.”
“This new pump price could be seen as making Nigerians to pay for the crass inefficiency in the NNPCL,”
He further remarked that, rather than tackling the fundamental issues that have caused Nigeria to remain a net importer of petrol despite having four refineries, the government has continued to impose hardships on Nigerians.
He further noted that the government’s actions are inadvertently contributing to the increasing cost of doing business.
He advised the government to reconsider its approach and take all necessary measures to address the ongoing impoverishment of Nigerians and the weakening of organized businesses.
Backstory
After weeks of enduring one of the worst petrol scarcities in the country, the NNPCL Retail stations across the country today began selling PMS to buyers at around N855 per litre from the previous N617/litre.
- According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the average retail price of PMS in the country in July 2024 was N770.54/litre.
- Experts have projected that the hike in the PMS pump price could further plunge more Nigerians into poverty and worsen the inflation levels in the country.
- Furthermore, the NNPCL has not been able to ensure Nigeria’s four refineries begin operation despite spending billions of dollars in turnaround maintenance and being unable to meet production deadlines.
- This is coming on the heels of the Dangote refinery finally rolling out trucks of PMS after over one year of delays and missed targets. The NNPC had noted that it would be the sole off-taker of petrol products from the refinery and sell them to marketers and distributors across the country.
- The Federal Executive Council (FEC) had earlier approved the sale of crude oil to the Dangote refinery in Naira after a series of back-and-forth arguments between regulators and the Dangote group over the operational framework of the Dangote refinery.
