Fuel Price Hike: PPPRA says there's no increase

The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) has announced that it did not increase the price of fuel in Nigeria.

The agency had on Thursday, March 11, 2021 set the retail pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) between N209.61 and N212.61.

The PPPRA's practice of setting pump price has been controversial over the past year especially following President Muhammadu Buhari's administration's decision to stop fuel subsidies, freeing up the price to be determined by market forces of demand and supply.

Thursday night's announcement sparked a wave of nationwide backlash as Nigerians lamented the latest increase in the price of petrol from N170.

In a statement, released on Friday, March 12, PPPRA said the guiding prices announced was only meant to indicate current market trend, and not to officially demand that fuel be sold at that rate.

The agency blamed the media for reporting the announcement in a misleading manner and leading Nigerians to the wrong conclusion.

"PPPRA does not fix or announce prices and therefore there is no price increase. The current PMS price is being maintained while consultations are being concluded," the statement read.

Despite the PPPRA's walk-back, many marketers are expected to raise the pump price, leading thousands of Nigerians to already resort to panic-buying before that happens, a situation expected to result in a brief artificial scarcity of the product.

The agency said it is currently monitoring the situation across retail outlets nationwide.

The agency said it will continue in its mandate to maintain constant surveillance over all key indices relevant to pricing policy, and monitor market trends to determine guiding prices.