There are fears that fuel price may hit N1000 per litre following the increase in pump price of premium motor spirit (PMS) by the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Daily Trust can report.

In what appeared like a welcome gift to Nigerians, the latest increase was implemented less than 24 hours after a new management of the national oil company was constituted by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu with a litre now sold for N950 at NNPC retail outlets.

This showed an increase of N25 from N925 a litre was previously sold.

This would be the second increment in less than one week as the NNPCL initially jacked up the price from N860 to N925 following the increase in PMS price from filling stations affiliated with Dangote Refinery.

MRS, Mobil and other filling stations had last week also adjusted their pump price with Nigerians grumbling over high fuel prices.

President Tinubu had on Thursday approved a sweeping reconstitution of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited board, removing the chairman, Chief Pius Akinyelure and the group chief executive officer, Mallam Mele Kolo Kyari.

President Tinubu removed all other board members appointed with Akinyelure and Kyari in November 2023.

The new 11-man board has Engineer Bashir Bayo Ojulari as the Group CEO and Ahmadu Musa Kida as non-executive chairman.

But barely 24 hours after the appointment of the new board and management, Nigerians were slammed with a new pump price which has been effected across NNPC filling stations.

In Lagos, the price of petrol at the NNPCL stations around Fadeyi, Ago Palace Way, and Second Rainbow outlets increased to N925 per litre from N860 on Wednesday, while NNPC retail outlets in Federal Housing, Kubwa, increased their price by N70.

Also checks at filling stations along Ojodu-Ogunnusi road indicated that NNPC had adjusted the pump price to N925; MRS 930 and TotalEnergies N935.

Fuel sells at N1000 per litre in Maiduguri, N970 in Kano

A sudden increase in litre prices at NNPC mega stations in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, has thrown motorists into panic in the state.

One of our correspondents who went around the state capital reports that the NNPC outlets are selling at N965 against the official rate of N930.

There was a slight increase in the number of motorists patronising fuel stations at different filling stations within the city.

Also, the situation was the same at independent filling stations as a litre is being sold at N1000.

“I don’t know what’s going on but we noticed that few people are coming to buy the fuel in large quantities unlike before,” one of the fuel attendants said.

In Kano, our correspondent reports that Alfa Tashir Filling Station was selling at N970 per litre and Enyo N960 per litre.

Some Nigerians who spoke with our correspondent yesterday lamented the increment.

“It’s perplexing that a Nigerian-owned company is selling its products to Nigerians in US dollars, despite operating within the country’s borders,” said a Lagos resident, Adewale Temidayo.

Another resident of Lagos, Amaka Esther, questioned the timing of the new increment.

She said, “NNPC hikes petrol prices just hours after a significant administrative overhaul. The timing raises questions about the shake-up’s impact on fuel policy decisions.”

We are monitoring situation – IPMAN

President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Abubakar Maigandi, in a chat with our correspondent yesterday said the association is still monitoring the situation.

He said, “We are still waiting to see what is going to happen. Even though there is an increment, it is not much.”

‘We must return to naira-for-crude deal’

The president however advised the new management of NNPC to reactivate the naira-for-crude contract to bring relief to Nigerians.

“We are not praying for the price not to go up beyond this and we are still advising the new management to bring back the naira for crude,” he said.

Daily Trust reports that the increase in PMS price has been predicted following the collapse of the naira-for-crude deal with local refiners, especially the Dangote Refinery.

Following the collapse of the deal, Dangote Refinery has also suspended the sale of crude oil in naira to, according to it, “avoid a mismatch between our sales proceeds and our crude oil purchase obligations, which are currently denominated in U.S. dollars.” (Daily Trust: Text, Excluding Headline)