The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Bayo Ojulari, has attributed the recent cooking gas scarcity in Nigeria to temporary loading delays caused by the strike action led by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN).
Ojulari made this known on Sunday while briefing State House correspondents after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu in Abuja.
“The increase you saw was relatively artificial because for the period of the strike, movements and loading were delayed by about two, three days,” the NNPCL CEO explained.
Why Cooking Gas Prices Went Up
Ojulari clarified that the industrial action, which halted operations for several days, disrupted the normal distribution flow of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), commonly referred to as cooking gas. This disruption led to an artificial spike in prices, not driven by actual supply shortages.
“As things return back to normal, it takes some time for distribution to be fully restored,” he noted.
Retailers Accused of Exploiting Supply Gaps
The NNPCL boss also accused some retailers of exploiting the temporary supply gap to inflate prices, taking advantage of the situation to profit from the shortfall.
“In Nigeria, people take opportunity. With that delay, some of the people who had existing resources and reserves had to put up the price,” he said.
Cooking Gas Prices Expected to Drop
Ojulari assured Nigerians that cooking gas prices will soon stabilize as supply chains are gradually returning to normal following the end of the PENGASSAN strike.
“My expectation is that now that things are back to normal, prices should return to what they were before the strike,” he said.
