By Juliet Jacob Ochenje, Gom Mirian
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has announced an upward review of the pump prices of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) also known as gasoline or fuel between N488 and N555 per litre at the peak.
The announcement coming barely two days after President Bola Tinubu’s pronouncement to end the removal of the fuel subsidy era in Nigeria was made by NNPC on Wednesday in a publication on its website obtained by Africa Heath Report, AHR.
Before now, there had been speculations that the price for the product would go up soon following the President’s pronouncement at his swearing-in. As anticipated, a new table of retail prices for the product across the different geopolitical zones of the country released by NNPC in Abuja confirmed the new price and also instructed marketers to effect the changes immediately beginning from Wednesday, May 31, 2023.
According to the new price schedule obtained by AHR, petrol will sell highest in Maiduguri and Damaturu at N557 per liter and N550 per litre in the rest of the Northeast zone.
Benni Kebbi will buy petrol at N545 to lead prices in the Northwest zone. The average price in the North Central zone will be N537 per litre, except in Illorin, where it will sell for N515 per litre. Consumers in the Southeast will buy at an average of N520 per litre.
Apart from Uyo and Yenegoa, where petrol will now sell at N515 per litre, the rest of the South-south zone will get the product at N511 per liter.
Consumers in Lagos will buy the product at N488 per liter, while the rest of the Southwest zone will get the product at N500 per liter.
Reacting to this development, a driver who conveys commuters from Kano to Abuja, Mallam Yusuf Ibrahim told AHR, that he regretted he charged passengers he conveyed from Kano to Abuja at the rate of N7,200 instead of N12,500.
“I don’t know the price of fuel had moved from N184 to N550 until I got to Kaduna where I want to buy fuel. Going forward I will no longer carry passengers for the old price because by the time I buy fuel, pay Union I will not have anything left to feed my family again and I want you to know that foodstuffs will also increase by far,” Ibrahim regrettably said.
