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NNPC Lifts Petrol to ₦1,405 a Litre, Just Weeks After Promising Relief
The state oil company has raised the pump price of petrol by ₦35 a litre, from ₦1,370 to ₦1,405, only days after the government announced a 30-day discount meant to ease the cost of fuel. Pump attendants told reporters that the increase was announced on Thursday, October 15, and applied from Friday, and the company has given no public reason for the change.
The move is a rise of about 2.6 percent and reverses a cut made at the start of the month. NNPC stations were charging ₦1,370 in Abuja and ₦1,360 in Lagos on October 1, after Dangote Refinery lowered its gantry price. The price has since moved back and forth: Abuja checks showed ₦1,405 around October 9, a return to ₦1,370 on Monday, and now ₦1,405 again, according to Daily Post and other outlets. Lagos and Rivers sold at about ₦1,355 earlier in the month, and a price tracker listed Yobe at ₦1,435.
The timing is awkward. On October 8, Finance Minister Taiwo Oyedele said NNPC Retail would forgo its margin and sell at cost for 30 days, with the Presidency giving ₦1,300 as an illustration of landing cost. NNPC has since said that its ₦66 a litre discount, which began on October 1 for Nigeria’s 66th independence anniversary and runs to October 31, is the same initiative as the government’s intervention. The catch is how it works: customers who pay through NNPC’s mobile app pay ₦1,339 a litre at participating stations, while those paying by other means pay the regular ₦1,405. NNPC has said the offer does not set a uniform national pump price or alter the market-based pricing system, and station managers repeated that point to reporters this weekend. The government has also floated a gantry price of ₦1,375, which puts NNPC’s new retail price ₦30 higher, though the two figures apply at different points in the supply chain, according to TG News.
Across the country, prices are not equal. Sunday PUNCH found petrol at NNPC stations selling for ₦1,425 in Gombe, ₦1,420 in Kano, ₦1,410 in Jos and ₦1,405 in Ilorin and across Jigawa, with some motorists saying they were not offered any discount. Transporters said they had raised fares to recover their costs, leaving passengers struggling with daily journeys.
Competition has not helped much. In a comparison published around October 12, BOVAS and MRS were selling at ₦1,390, below NNPC’s regular price, while AA Rano charged ₦1,410. MRS stations later moved up, with one report putting them at ₦1,409, and Vanguard found MRS and some NNPC outlets in Abuja at ₦1,405 after rises of ₦25 to ₦35 a litre. Marketers linked the increases to higher global crude prices amid the Middle East conflict, which has pushed the cost of importing and refining fuel up again, and they have urged the government to widen the discount to more stations.
Here is what the pattern means for motorists. The advertised discount reduces the price only for app payers, and only at participating stations, so checking the app and the pump before filling up matters. The regular price can change within days, as Abuja showed this month, so a quote from a week ago may be out of date. Because NNPC has not published its landing cost, there is no way to verify whether the ₦1,405 price covers only cost, as the Presidency’s description suggested, or includes a margin.
Several questions remain unanswered. NNPC has not explained why it raised the price, how the 30-day promotion relates to the proposed ceiling, or what happens on November 1 when the discount period ends. Until it does, drivers and businesses should expect continued swings, and the next move will likely track both global crude prices and decisions at Dangote’s gantry.
