The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), Mr. Bayo Ojulari, has attributed the recent increase in cooking gas prices to a temporary disruption in loading and distribution caused by the strike action of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN).
Ojulari made this known on Sunday while speaking with State House correspondents after meeting with President Bola Tinubu.
According to him, the strike halted operations for a few days, creating what he described as an “artificial” rise in prices.
“The increase you saw was relatively artificial because during the strike, movement and loading were delayed for about two or three days,” Ojulari explained. “That delay had an immediate impact on prices, but as operations return to normal, distribution will gradually stabilise.”
The price surge came after PENGASSAN embarked on industrial action to protest the dismissal of Nigerian workers at the Dangote Refinery. The strike was later suspended on October 1 following government intervention.
Ojulari also noted that some retailers took advantage of the short supply to raise prices unfairly.
“As you know, in Nigeria, people often take advantage of such situations. With the delay in supply, some who already had stock decided to increase prices,” he said.
He, however, assured Nigerians that prices would soon return to normal as supply chains are being restored.
“Now that the strike has been called off and operations have resumed, we expect prices to gradually drop back to pre-strike levels,” Ojulari added.
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He also confirmed that the Dangote Group’s decision to redeploy the affected workers has helped resolve key issues and ease the supply challenges that contributed to the price hike.
