By Our Reporter
Nigerians awoke on Tuesday to find out that the pump price of petrol had shot up from N600/liter to between N900 – N1,300/liter.
Owing to the abrupt increase in the price of fuel, marketers have adopted different prices with the price per liter of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, which had hitherto, been the lowest now among the highest pump prices.
While the pump price of fuel appears to have been fixed at the base price of N855 per litre, some filling stations sell their products between N997 to N1, 300.
NNPCL Retail stations, in parts of the country reportedly sell at N997, the second highest, with some independent marketers, depending on location, selling at varying prices of between N1,000 to as much as N1,300.
This price increase is coming just days after the NNPCL disclosed that it owes suppliers about $6 billion.
Since President Bola Tinubu Assumed office on May 29, 2023, Nigerians have witnessed an unprecedented increase of over 300 percent in the price of petrol, leading to runaway inflation in the country, given the importance of the product to key economic activities.
The price of petrol which was about N197/liter in May of 2023, when President Tinubu took over power has risen to over N1,000, as is currently sold.
Despite the increment, the product is still not available as Nigerians are subjected daily to long agonizing queues at the filling stations, as they wait to buy the scarce product, wasting precious man hours.
This has further whittled down business activities in most parts of the country, as the scarcity has contributed to constraining the free movement of people and goods, with prices of goods skyrocketing beyond the reach of the common man.
The Federal Government has yet to make a public pronouncement on the current situation. Nigerians are awaiting government responses as the struggle to save their lives from the biting inflation escalates.