The Federal Government on Wednesday announced a new price regime for petrol, with the highest price of N145 per litre.
The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency said in Abuja that the new price regime had taken effect from Wednesday.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, however, advised its retail stations on the outskirts of major cities to sell at prices lower than N145 per litre.
In a statement, the PPPRA said: “This review became imperative in the face of extreme difficulties faced by petroleum product importers in sourcing foreign exchange.”
The agency said to meet the consumption demand of the nation, importers will henceforth be permitted to source for their foreign exchange requirements from the secondary sources.
It said: “PPPRA is conscious of the difficulties that Nigerians have been going through in the last few months and to ameliorate this situation we shall continue to modulate pricing in accordance with prevailing market dynamics thereby ensuring fair value to all citizens.”
Mixed reactions have been trailing the announcement of the new price regime.
Comrade Joe Ajaero, a factional President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, said on Wednesday that removing subsidy without fulfilling the agreement reached with the unions was nothing but a betrayal
Ajar said: “We do not in any way support full deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector.”
Obafemi Olawore, the Executive Secretary of Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, said his association supported the move, saying it was the right step to liberate the downstream sector.
“It is a step towards deregulation. At MOMAN, we support full deregulation,” Olawore said.
