Nigerians should expect immediate relief from new fuel pump price burden

Mele Kyari the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company has said that Nigerians should expect immediate relief from the new fuel pump price burden.

He said this while speaking on the recent fuel pump price adjustment in an interview via Channels Television on Thursday night. He said that steps are being taken by the government to ensure that some relief is provided in the short term and the medium term.

He said: “All of them will cumulatively come to the effect of having some ability to pay for the petroleum product as well as cushion the effects of it on other facets of life and also potentially provide cheap fuel going forward. That cheap fuel means conversion to natural gas, it may not happen tomorrow but I know there are engagements going on and details are being worked out by engaging all stakeholders including the Labour Unions to see how relief can be made available to all Nigerians.”

Recall that Nairametrics had reported that the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Joe Ajaero had said that the new fuel pump prices which range between N488 per liter to N570 per liter, are an ambush on the Nigerian people and are totally unacceptable. He said:

“Good faith negotiation is key to reaching an agreement. What the government has done is like holding a gun to the head of the Nigerian people and bringing undue pressure on the leaders thus undermining the dialogue.

“We call on the federal government to immediately instruct the NNPC to withdraw this vexatious Pricing template to allow free flow of discussions by the parties. Nigerians would not accept any manipulations of any kind from any of the parties, especially from the representatives of the Government.”

Why it was necessary to adjust fuel pump prices

Mele Kyari had previously said that the federal government does not have the capacity to make fuel subsidy payments and the NNPC has been carrying the burden. This has eaten deep into the company’s cash flow as Kyari alleged that NNPCL was paying up to N400 billion every month for fuel subsidies and the company can no longer sustain such payments.