Nigerians woke up today to another round of increase in the pump price of petrol as filling stations operated by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited increased the pump price of fuel to N1.030 per lite in Abuja and N991 per litre in Lagos.
Consequently, transport costs across the country went up by over 20 percent, signaling a fresh challenge to commuters.
In Lagos, the product which hitherto sold at N885 per litre now sells at between N995 to N1000 per litre while in Abuja, the product, which previously sold for N897 per litre, now sells for N1,030.
Queues have resurfased at many filling stations in Lagos and Abuja.
At the NNPC stations in Gwagwalada, Wuse, and Lugbe, in Abuja, motorists queued as they waited for attendants to sell fuel to them.
In Lagos, where fuel price increased from N885 per liter to over N998, long queues were observed at many stations.
The price hike has been blamed on reports of a potential price increase owing to NNPCL’s withdrawal as an intermediary in the Dangote Refinery product.
This is the second upward adjustment of petrol by NNPC between September and October this year.
NNPC spokesperson, Olufemi Soneye, has not reacted to the price increase.
NNPC last month stated that it was purchasing petrol from Dangote Refinery at N898.78 per litre and selling to marketers at N765.99 per litre, effectively absorbing a subsidy of nearly N133 per litre.
However, the company indicated that this arrangement was no longer sustainable.
Between September 15 and 30, the NNPC lifted approximately 103 million liters of petrol from Dangote Refinery. During the period, the refinery managed to load 2,207 of the 3,621 trucks sent to it.
The trucks transported a total of 102,973,025 liters out of the intended 400,000,000 liters of petrol, which was to be lifted at a rate of 25 million liters per day.
Following the lifting, the NNPC announced new increased prices for various locations across the country.