VP Shettima Summons Lokpobiri, Mele Kyari, Ribadu Over Petrol Price Hike

Vice President Kashim Shettima has summoned the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, and Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari.

Also summoned on Thursday at the Presidential Villa is the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu over the recent hike in the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly known as petrol.

The Vice President is meeting with the trio in his office at the State House, Abuja.

NNPCL on Tuesday increased the pump price of petrol from ₦568 to ₦855, ₦897 (depending on the location per litre) amid lingering fuel scarcity and the country’s crisis.

Private suppliers already sold fuel at higher prices than the NNPCL. Some were selling at 1,200 naira per litre on Wednesday.

The price increase came a day after NNPC acknowledged it was struggling to maintain fuel supplies because of financial difficulties.

In Lagos, Abuja and the northern city of Kano on Wednesday, some private petrol stations were closed while huge lines of cars waited overnight outside NNPC fuel stations.

Several Nigerians and groups have condemned the NNPCL’s hike in fuel prices amid the hardship and economic realities the citizens face.

Among them is the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), the Trade Union Congress (TUC), the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), arguing that the increment would compound the misery of Nigerians.

NLC President, Joe Ajaero, condemned the fuel price hike and accused the government of betraying the labour movement.

He demanded an immediate reversal in the price of petrol.

“We demand the immediate reversal of the latest increase in the pump of PMS across the country, release of all those incarcerated or being prosecuted on the assumption of having participated in the recent protests,” Ajaero said.

“End to policies that engender hunger and insecurity, halt to government’s culture of terror, fear and lying. We are guided by our belief in our country and the need to secure and sustain its sovereignty, integrity and welfare of the people.

“Halt the indiscriminate arrest and detention of citizens on trumped up charges, reversal of the 250% tariff hike in electricity, stop to the hijack of the duties of the Ministry of Labour and Employment.”

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