The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), Mr. Bayo Ojulari, has attributed the recent spike in cooking gas prices across the country to the temporary disruption of supply caused by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) strike. Ojulari made this known to State House correspondents on Sunday after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu in Abuja.
According to Ojulari, the industrial action by PENGASSAN, which lasted for several days, halted loading and distribution operations nationwide, leading to what he described as an “artificial” increase in prices. “The increase you saw was relatively artificial because, during the strike, movements and loading were delayed by about two to three days,” he explained. “As things return to normal, it takes some time for distribution to stabilize.”
The strike, which was launched to protest the alleged dismissal of Nigerian workers at the Dangote Refinery, was suspended on October 1 following federal government intervention. However, the brief shutdown created supply bottlenecks that rippled through the market, triggering sharp price hikes for household cooking gas across various states.
Ojulari also criticized opportunistic retailers for exploiting the shortfall to inflate prices, further burdening consumers already grappling with rising living costs. “In Nigeria, people take advantage of situations like this,” he noted. “With the delay, some dealers who had reserves took the opportunity to raise prices beyond normal levels.”
The NNPC chief, however, reassured Nigerians that the situation is already improving as supply chains recover and operations resume. He added that the Dangote Group’s decision to redeploy affected staff and restore operations has begun to ease distribution challenges. “Now that things are back to normal, prices should return to their pre-strike levels in the coming weeks,” Ojulari said.
source: punch