President Tinubu allays fear of increase in pump price of fuel, says no imminent hike

President Bola Tinubu has assured Nigerians that there will be no increase in the pump price of petrol, anywhere in the country.

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, noted that the market has been deregulated and will remain so.

The president’s assurance came after report of imminent price increase over rise in dollar and crude oil.

The president’s aide emphasised that government will address the inefficiencies within the midstream and downstream petroleum subsectors to maintain prices where they are without having to resort to a reversal of the administration’s policy in the petroleum industry.

This comes less than 24 hours after the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited said it had no plan to raise the pump price of petrol.

In a terse statement on Monday night, the company urged Nigerians to disregard speculations of a fresh hike in the price of the premium product, an apparent response to the Nigeria Labour Congress’ (NLC) warning.

The NLC President, Joe Ajaero, on Monday warned that it would embark on an indefinite strike in the event of another petrol price hike by the NNPC Limited.

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The Federal Government-owned company has repeatedly increased pump prices of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), or petrol, since the May 29 declaration of President Bola Tinubu that “fuel subsidy is gone”.

From around N185, the prices skyrocketed to around N500, and again up to N617 last month. sparking outrage which culminated in a nationwide protest two weeks ago.