Nigerians Groan As NNPC Introduces New Petrol Prices Regime

Many Nigerians have lamented the increment in petrol pump prices by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.

In a notice addressed to oil marketers on Tuesday, July 19, 2022, the NNPC directed them to change the approved pump price of petrol from N165 per litre to N179 per litre.

BizWatch Nigeria understands that petrol has in the past few weeks been selling above N165 per litre, but with the newly-released price regime, petrol would now sell at different prices across the country.

While the commodity would now sell for N179 per litre in the northcentral region, petrol would sell for N174 in Abuja.

More so, in what appeared to be the highest in the adjustment, petrol would now sell for N184 per litre in the northwest and N189 in the north east.

Following the release of the new prices regime, Nigerians who spoke to our correspondent predicted that it would bring unbearable hardship to them considering the alarming inflation rates.

“Times are hard, and this is our reality as Nigerians. If at all for some reason the government would officially release a new price regime for petrol, this is the wrongest moment to do so. This is because transportation would increase, cost of running businesses would be alarming as well,” a motorist who doesn’t want to be mentioned in this report stated.

Like the motorist, a Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operator, who identified herself as Funsho Miles, expressed her dissatisfaction with the development, saying it is more worrisome considering the fact that the government still subsidises the commodity.

“I am honestly confused about the things we have to deal with as Nigerians in their home country. The government has over the years been reluctant about yanking-off subsidy payments, which may have subjected us to buying petrol at higher prices. But look at where we are today, the controversial subsidy payments is still in place, and we still have to pay more to secure this commodity. It is easy to be frustrated out at this point,” Miles lamented.