NUPENG vows to resist hike in petrol price

The National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas workers (NUPENG) has vowed to resist any attempt to increase pump price of premium motor spirit (PMS) otherwise called petrol.

Speaking with the Tribune Online on Sunday, the National President of NUPENG, Comrade Achese Igwe, stated that there have been rumors that marketers are calling for upward review of pump price of petrol which is currently selling for N145 per liter.

He said but considering the current state of the economy, such calls for increment in pump, price of petrol will worsen the economic situation of the masses.

According to him, “there have been calls by oil marketers that the current price of N145 per liter is no longer realistic in view of the landing costs of petrol. We state that any plan by the government to increase the pump price of petrol will be tantamount to increasing the suffering of the masses and NUPENG will resist it.”

Last year when the country was faced with the worst fuel scarcity in history, the federal government considers several options of permanently solving the perennial challenges and opted for partial deregulation of petrol pricing rather than full deregulation.

Price modulation was introduced whereby marketers are allowed to sell within a price range of between N135-N145 per liter. At that time, exchange rate of naira to dollar was about N300/$. However, when dollar went as high as N500/$, it became expensive to import petrol and marketers began to call for upward review of pump, price of petrol.

Besides, a marketer who preferred anonymity said President Muhammadu Buhari may never agree to price increment because he was away in London last year when price modulation was introduced and pump price officially moved to N145 per liter.