Reps demand urgent reversal of petrol, cooking gas price hike

The House of Representatives has waded into the increase in the pump price of petroleum products, demanding an urgent reversal of the hike in the price of the fuel and cooking gas.

In a motion moved by the Deputy Minority Leader, Aliyu Madaki, and sponsored by 111 members of the house, the House called for the immediate reversal of the price increase in petrol and cooking gas.

According to the lawmakers, the hike has caused severe hardship on Nigerians and is threatening job security in the country.

The Green Chamber also asked the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources to increase local refining capacity.

The lawmakers also called on the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to implement monetary policies that would mitigate the adverse effect of fuel price hikes on inflation.

This is as the World Bank has warned that a further increase in the prices of petrol may reverse the already dwindling effects of subsidy removal in Nigeria.

The warning is contained in the October edition of its Africa’s Pulse report.

The report said: “While the inflationary effects of a weakened naira in the first months of this year and the removal of the gasoline subsidy in the second half of 2023 appeared to be gradually subsiding, a further increase in gasoline prices by 40-45 percent in September may reverse the disinflationary trend.”

Recall that President Bola Tinubu on May 2023, officially pronounced an end to petrol subsidies in Nigeria, jerking PMS prices from N175 per litre to over N1000 across the country.

A recent market survey put the price of 1 kg cooking gas at N1500.