By Kolawole Ojebisi
If the latest development in the oil industry is anything to go by, Nigerians can now breathe a sigh of relief in expectation of better days in the sector.
This prediction is based on the decision of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, which has reduced the pump price of premium motor spirit, PMS, popularly known as petrol.
According to Dailypost, a Nigerian newspaper, the price reduction is evident in the NNPCL filling stations at Kubwa Expressway, Central Business District, and Wuse Zone 4, Abuja.
According to the information gleaned from these filling stations on Saturday, the state-owned oil firm has slashed its petrol price to N895 per litre from N910.
This showed that NNPCL reduced its fuel pump by N15.
“It is long expected because other filling stations have reduced their petrol prices,” a driver was quoted to have said.
The NNPCL’s latest move comes in the wake of Dangote refinery’s similar decision.
Dangote refinery had earlier slashed its fuel price to N875 and N895 in Lagos and Abuja.
Meanwhile, filling stations in other parts of the country, apart from Lagos and Abuja had reduced their petrol pump prices to between N900 and N910 per litre.
These latest developments have corroborated the position of proponents of deregulation of the downstream oil and gas sector who predicted that the policy will lead to crash of fuel pump price.
Recall that the spokesperson of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Chinedu Ukadike, said marketers are now competing favourably with NNPCL following the liberalisation of the country’s downstream oil and gas sector.
