Chidi Samuel
The federal government has denied media reports of an impending increase in the pump price of petrol. There have been strong speculations in recent times that the pump price of the product, currently fixed at N145 a litre, was set to be reviewed upwards. The speculation went on over drive over the weekend following the call by former Group Managing Directors of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), for the upward review of the pump price of fuel given the fluctuations of the exchange rate.
Dr Ibe Kachikwu,the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Maikanti Baru, the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Baru, who gave the assurance, denied any plan to increase the pump price of petrol.
Exchanging views with State House correspondents after a closed door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, Baru, in response to the question if there were plans to further increase the fuel price, said: “There is nothing like that! Go to the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA)”.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources had earlier parried a similar question and directed the journalists to the GMD of the NNPC.
But when pressed further on any possible fuel price hike, the minister stated: “There is no more to that effect”.
