The federal government has denied increasing the price of
premium motor spirit, also called petrol.
Timipre Sylva, minister of state for petroleum resources,
said this on Friday in a statement issued by Horatius Egua, his senior adviser
on media and communications.
Yesterday, several media reports claimed that the federal
government quietly approved N185 as the new petrol pump price per litre.
But Sylva said the President Muhammadu Buhari has not
approved any price increase for petrol, as he is sensitive to the plight of the
citizens.
“President Muhammadu
Buhari has not approved any increase in the price of PMS or any other petroleum
product for that matter,” he said.
“There is no reason for President Muhammadu Buhari to renege
on his earlier promise not to approve any increase in the price of PMS at this
time.
“Mr. President is sensitive to the plight of the ordinary
Nigerian and has said repeatedly that he understands the challenges of the
ordinary Nigerian and would not want to cause untold hardship for the
electorate.
“Government will not
approve any increase of PMS secretly without due consultations with the
relevant stakeholders. The President has not directed the Nigerian Midstream
and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority or any agency for that matter to
increase the price of fuel.
“This is not the time for any increase in pump price of PMS.”
Sylva said what was playing out was the “handiwork of
mischief makers and those planning to discredit the achievements of the
president” in the oil and gas sector.
“I appeal to Nigerians to remain calm and law-abiding as the
government is working hard to bring normalcy to fuel supply and distribution in
the country,” he said.
Petrol scarcity has lingered since November, 2022. This
situation is further worsened by disparity in the pump prices of the commodity
across the country.
Several consumers had told TheCable that the product
retailed for as high as N300 a litre.
While there is uncertainty as to the reason for the
prolonged scarcity, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria
(IPMAN) had said the volume of petrol supplied to marketers by private depots
have dropped by about 40 percent.
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com