The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has defended the fuel price hike to N617 per litre, saying it is market forces in action.
The price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) went up to N617 per litre on Tuesday. Nigerians are lamenting the fuel hike.
Mele Kyari, Group Chief Executive Officer (NNPCL), while reacting to the hike on Tuesday after meeting with Vice President Kashim Shettima in Abuja, said what is happening is simply market realities coming into play in determining the prices of the product.
He said what happened today meant that the market is regulating itself as prices would either go up or down.
Kyari said there was no shortage of the product in the market, saying that when marketers purchased the product, they come to the market to sell at the prevailing prices.
“I’m also assuring Nigerians that this is the best way to go forward so that we can adjust prices when market forces come to play,” Kyari said.
He said he did not have the details this moment, but that he knew the marketing wing acted just like every other company in this business.
Kyari added that he knew a number of companies had imported petroleum products today, while so many of them were on line.
“Market forces have started to play; people have started having confidence in the market. Private sector people are importing products, but there is no way they can recover their cost if they cannot take market reflective cost,” he stated.
