Nigerians have commended the reduction in pump price of petrol by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.
This is even as Lagosians voiced their frustrations as many filling stations in the city continued to sell the commodity at the old rate, while the NNPC Ltd with fewer outlets, compared to others, have slashed their prices.
The NNPC Ltd had cut down the price of a litre of petrol from N1, 060 to N1, 030 before further reducing it to N965 per litre.
Also, Dangote Refinery announced similar reduction in the pump price of its products.
…Reactions
Other stations that spoke Monday with Blueprint Newspapers said they needed to exhaust their old stock before lowering prices.
Also, a cross section of people who spoke with this medium commended the state-owned oil company, describing the price reduction as good news.
In his comment, President Nigerian Economic Society (NES), Professor Adeola Adenikinju said: “The reduction in fuel price by the NNPC is commendable.
“Competition in the industry is bringing down prices as Dangote Refinery has also lowered price. This is one of the benefits of the deregulation of the sector and the removal of fuel subsidies.
“I am hopeful that as we remain on course in the implementation of the subsidy removal, the sector will witness more refineries and more investments to the downstream petroleum sector, the more the Nigerian economy and the people would benefit from the liberalization. The NNPC pricing decision is good for the economy, and it is commendable. I hope the trend will continue.”
‘…Impacts may not be soon’
Other speakers were, however, quick to add that Nigerians would not immediately begin to feel the impact of the pump price reduction.
A consumer rights advocate, Aliyu Ilias, hailed the NNPC Ltd for the reduction describing it as good news.
According to Ilias, the pump price reduction is as a result of competition.
“However, it is a function of competition that is why we always want competition that will open doors to more competition in the oil and gas industry. We should continue to allow importation while Dangote is pumping prices doing its best while local refineries come up gradually.
“The reduction we are seeing now is the work of competition. Saudi Arabia has about five refineries and they still import fuel, America has 132 refineries they still import fuel just to make sure that there is stability and competition. Competition will reduce the price and it will be to the benefit of the citizens,” he said.
Ilias stressed that Nigerians will not immediately begin to feel the impact of the price reduction as it has to be consistent for few months.
“Can this basic reduction show in the economy? The answer is no. Before Nigerians can see the benefits of the reduction, it has to be consistent over time. If it is consistent for like two or three months, the benefits will be felt by everyone because what people are using, they must have purchased before now.