The House of Representatives has intervened in the increase in the pump price of petroleum products. Moved by the Deputy Minority Leader, Aliyu Madaki and sponsored by 111 members of the house, the house called for the immediate reversal of the price increase in petrol and cooking gas.
The lawmakers said they feared that the hike was causing hardship for Nigerians and threatening job security.
NewsBits recalls that President Bola Tinubu as of May 2023, officially pronounced an end to petrol subsidies in Nigeria, jerking PMS prices from N175 per litre to over N1000 across the country. A recent market survey also puts the price of 1 kg cooking gas at N1500. And ever since, the cost of goods and services has climbed the roof, leading to a worsening cost of living in Nigeria.
However, the Green Chamber also has asked that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, to increase local refining capacity, while also calling on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), to implement monetary policies that will mitigate the adverse effect of fuel price hike on inflation.
This is as the World Bank has warned that a further increase in the prices of petrol may reverse the already dwindling effects of subsidy removal in Nigeria.
The warning is contained in the October edition of its Africa’s Pulse report.
The report said, “While the inflationary effects of a weakened naira in the first months of this year and the removal of the gasoline subsidy in the second half of 2023 appeared to be gradually subsiding, a further increase in gasoline prices by 40-45 per cent in September may reverse the disinflationary trend.”
