Ajuri Ngelale, the president’s special adviser on media and publicity, told State House reporters on Tuesday that Nigeria is currently the only country in West Africa enjoying the cheapest and most affordable price of PMS, despite the rise in living expenses brought on by the removal of the petrol subsidy, which has resulted in a corresponding increase in fuel prices.
The presidential assistant further mentioned that when the subsidy was eliminated, the daily petrol usage fell from 67 million litres to 46 million litres.
Ngelale, who indicated to have spoken with President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday morning, said that during their conversation, the President asked all national stakeholders to maintain peace, adding that the organised labor’s threats of an indefinite strike were unwarranted.
“The President wishes first to state that it is incumbent upon all stakeholders in the country to hold their peace. We have heard very recently from the organised labour movement in the country with respect to their most recent threat.
“We believe that the threat was premature and that there is a need on all sides to ensure that fact finding and diligence are done on what the current state of the downstream and midstream petroleum industry is before any threats or conclusions are arrived at or issued. Secondly, Mr. President, wishes to assure Nigerians following the announcement by the NNPC Limited just yesterday that there will be no increase in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit anywhere in the country. We repeat, the President affirms that there will be no increase in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit.”
Speaking of the relative price of petrol in other West African countries, Ajuri said:
“In the graphic, what you will find is the present cost of refined Premium Motor Spirit at the pump in each of the West African nations that border us and I’ll just name some for example, even as I know, you will be showing your audiences the graphics, which the President has graciously approved for public release today.
“Senegal at pump price today of N1,273 equivalent per litre; Guinea at N1,075 per litre, Côte d’ Ivore at N1,048 per litre equivalent in their currency, Mali N1,113 per litre, Central African Republic N1,414 per litre, Nigeria is presently averaging between N568 and N630 per litre”.
