The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has attributed the recent scarcity and sharp increase in the price of cooking gas to the industrial action by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN).
Speaking to State House correspondents on Sunday after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu, the Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL, Bayo Ojulari, said the strike caused temporary disruptions in gas loading and distribution, which triggered an “artificial” hike in prices.
According to him, operations were suspended for several days during the strike, creating a short-term supply gap that affected market prices nationwide.
“The increase you saw was relatively artificial because, during the strike period, movement and loading were delayed by about two to three days,” Ojulari explained. “That disruption created a ripple effect. As things return to normal, it will take a little time for full distribution to stabilise.”
Ojulari accused some retailers of exploiting the brief shortfall to arbitrarily raise prices, saying such opportunistic behaviour worsened the situation.
“As you know, in Nigeria, people take advantage of situations. With that delay, some dealers who had reserves simply increased their prices,” he said.
The NNPCL boss, however, assured Nigerians that the situation is already improving and that gas prices should ease in the coming weeks as supply chains stabilise.
“Now that operations have normalised, we expect prices to return to pre-strike levels,” he added.
The PENGASSAN strike, which was sparked by the dismissal of Nigerian workers at the Dangote Refinery, was suspended on October 1 following the intervention of the federal government.
