ABUJA, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)-The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mr Bayo Ojulari, has attributed the recent increase in cooking gas prices to a temporary disruption in loading and distribution caused by the strike action of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria.
Ojulari made this known while addressing State House correspondents on Sunday after meeting with President Bola Tinubu.
He explained that the industrial action led to a halt in operations for several days, resulting in an “artificial” surge in prices.
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He said, “The increase you saw was relatively artificial because for the period of the strike, 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.”
The price hike occurred following the PENGASSAN strike, which was prompted by the dismissal of Nigerian workers at the Dangote Refinery and suspended on October 1 after the federal government intervened.
Ojulari also criticised opportunistic retailers for exploiting the supply gap to increase prices.
He assured Nigerians that with the restoration of supply chains, cooking gas prices would likely ease in the coming weeks.
“As you know, in Nigeria, people take opportunity. With that delay, some of the people that had existing resources and reserves had to put up the price.”
“My expectation is that now that things are back to normal, prices should return to what they were before the strike,” he said.
Ojulari added that the Dangote Group’s decision to redeploy affected staff and resume operations has already started to ease supply challenges.