Bayo Ojulari, group chief executive officer (GCEO), the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, says the recent rise in the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), popularly known as cooking gas, is linked to the recent strike by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN).
Ojulari spoke to state house journalists on Sunday after a courtesy visit to President Bola Tinubu.
On Monday, TheCable observed that the price of the commodity increased in Lagos.
At several retail outlets around Amuwo Odofin, the price of the product rose to N26,000 for 12.5 kg (at N2,080 per kg).
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At the Iyana Ipaja axis, 12.5kg of the product was sold for N27,000 (at N2,200 per kg).
In Abuja, cooking gas was retailed for N20,000 for 12.5kg cylinder (at N1,600 per kg) around Dutse axis.
The new price represents a 48.57 percent increase from the previous rate of N17,500 for a 12.5kg cylinder.
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Speaking on the price hike, Ojulari said some retailers and marketers with existing stock also raised their prices, contributing to the overall increase.
He, however, assured Nigerians that the surge would ease soon.
“So the increase you saw was relatively artificial because for the period of the strike, what that meant was movements and loading were delayed by about two, three days.
“And because of that, you see that impact as things return back to normal. It takes some time for distribution to be fully restored.
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“And of course, as you know, in Nigeria, people take opportunity. With that delay, some of the people that have existing resources and reserves had to put up the price.
“My expectation is that now that things are back to normal, prices should return back to what they were before the strike.”
On October 1, PENGASSAN suspended its nationwide strike planned in response to the Dangote refinery’s dismissal of Nigerian workers.
After the federal government’s intervention, the Dangote Group had agreed to redeploy the affected workers.
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