PETROL users in Awka, Anambra State, have resorted to buying from few filling stations, including the NNPC Mega Station, after the price of the product rose on Friday morning from N175 to N212 per liter.
The major and only functional NNPC outlet in the Anambra State capital was swarming with consumers, who formed a long queue waiting to buy at the normal price of N175 naira per liter.
Two nights ago, discomforting rumours started swirling around social media of purported petroleum products’ price increase by the federal government.
There were also speculations that Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, Nigeria’s petroleum price watchdog, had posted about the price increase on its website, but was forced to pull down the post and re-issued a counter-statement, through its Executive Secretary, Mr. Saidu Abdulkadir, when the original one purportedly started generating intense controversy.
In Awka, most filling stations had adopted the new pump price, with some even selling higher than the hiked price.
This ugly scenario has also prompted buyers to rush demand, with a presumable scare of another hike, while suspicion of product hoarding, diversion and adulteration have already set in.
Some consumers, including Mr. Samuel Obiora and Dr. Emeka Okpalamma, lamented the continuous increase in the prices of petroleum products in Nigeria, explaining that the masses have always been at the receiving end of most bureaucratic decisions made by the government.
Another buyer, a former member of Anambra State House of Assembly, Hon. Vincent Atuigwe, who described the situation as sad, explained that the sudden hike would have an all-round effect both on transportation and foods, with an expected inflationary alarm.
On his part, the Awka Office, Operations Controller of the Department of Petroleum Resources, Mr. Akpomudjere Okiemute, said that despite the hike, consumer panic was unnecessary as there was enough products supply to Anambra State, and that his office is already on the field to checkmate products diversion.
Meanwhile in a statement released on the development, the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Willie Obiano on NUPENG, Petroleum and Union Matters, Comrade Peter Nwosu, urged Ndi Anambra to remain calm in the face of the recent development, and re-assured residents that the State government will ensure availability of Petroleum products within the State through the already existing relationship with all the Oil and Gas Union in the State.
As at the time of this report, food prices are still stable at major markets in the city, but vendors feared that if the rise is not checked, consumers might have to once again brace for high cost of food products.
It is still unclear, the reason for the current hike, with the federal government stating later on Friday, through the Minister of State for Petroleum, Mr. Timiprie Sylva, that it was disowning earlier announcement by the PPPRA about the price increase, as the presidency was not aware of such plan.
BY SUNNY A. DAVID
