The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has increased the price of petrol at its retail outlets by N4 from N141 to N145 per litre.

Daily Trust reports that this is the first time the
NNPC will be selling at N145 per litre although this is within the maximum price fixed by the federal government since May.

Although independent station shave been selling at N145, NNPC stations and its affiliates’ prices have been hovering between N143 and N141 per litre. In major cities and even less at stations in the hinterlands, the price has been less. It was reported that the new price was fixed on Tuesday, November 1 after it was sold for less for a few months.

Garba Deen Muhammad who is the spokesperson of the NNPC said there was no rule preventing marketers from selling within the range stipulated.“A price regime was introduced between N135 and N145. So, you can sell anywhere within that range. What you are seeing is interplay of market forces.”

However, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu maintains that the government has not increased the pump prices of petrol.

Kachikwu yesterday, November 1, dismissed
insinuation of any fuel price hike, insisting that the government had not announced any change in pump prices, Vanguard reports. The minister disclosed this shortly after the meeting between President Muhammadu Buhari
and the leaders of Niger Delta at the presidential Villa, Abuja.

When responding to an enquiry about an
imminent hike in petrol prices, he said no
increment had been announced yet. “Have you heard me announce any increment?
Wait until you hear from my mouth,” he said. The minister’s dismissal of a price hike in petrol was sequel to widespread panic in Abuja
yesterday that major petrol stations, including the retail outlets of the Nigerian National Petroleum Cooperation (NNPC) had jerked up their pump prices from the official N145 to N149 per litre.