Reverse hike in prices of petrol, cooking gas now, Nigeria’s House of Reps demands
By KEMI KASUMU
The House of Representatives in Nigeria, on Wednesday, moved that the incessant increase in the pump price of petrol and cooking gas in the country be reversed with immediate effect.
The House, according to a motion moved by the Deputy Minority Leader, Aliyu Madaki, and sponsored by 111 members, said they feared that the hike was causing hardship for Nigerians and threatening job security.
They also asked 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 the 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.”
President Bola Tinubu as of May 2023, officially pronounced an end to petrol subsidies in Nigeria, jerking Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) prices from N185 per litre to over N1,000 presently across the country.
A recent market survey also puts the selling price of cooking gas at N1500 per kilogram.
This is as tendency of government towards increasing taxes, universities’ school fees and other essentials of life across human geography is on the rise daily.
