“As you know, in Nigeria, people take opportunity. With that delay, some of the people that had existing resources and reserves had to put up the price. As supply chains stabilise, the cooking gas price is expected to ease in the coming weeks”
The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), Mr Bayo Ojulari, has explained the reason for the recent increase in cooking gas price across the country.
According to him, the cooking gas price hike was caused by the temporary disruption of operations during the strike by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN).
Speaking with State House correspondents on Sunday after visiting President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Ojulari said the industrial action halted loading and distribution for several days, leading to an artificial rise in the price.
“The increase you saw was relatively artificial because for the period of the strike, movements and loading were delayed by about two, three days. And because of that, you see that impact. As things return back to normal, it takes some time for distribution to be fully restored.”
Ojulari also accused some retailers of taking advantage of the temporary supply disruption to inflate the cooking gas price.
“As you know, in Nigeria, people take opportunity. With that delay, some of the people that had existing resources and reserves had to put up the price,” he said.
Ojulari assured Nigerians that as supply chains stabilise, the cooking gas price is expected to ease in the coming weeks.
“My expectation is that now that things are back to normal, prices should return to what they were before the strike,” he said.
The rise in cooking gas price followed the industrial action by PENGASSAN over the dismissal of Nigerian workers at the Dangote Refinery.
The strike, which disrupted fuel and gas operations nationwide, was suspended on October 1 after federal government intervention.
Following negotiations, the Dangote Group agreed to redeploy the affected workers, paving the way for normal operations to resume and for the cooking gas price to stabilise.
SOURCE – Nigerian Tribune
