The President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, has said the Senate might intervene in the current hike in the pump prices of petrol set by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
He disclosed this while responding to questions from state correspondents after plenary on Thursday.
According to the lawmaker, the senate will step in if the need arises
He explained that he is yet to make a holistic assessment of the situation but believes that what has happened is owing to deregulation.
“It simply means that you are going to stop the idea of subsidy to make sure that the monies are used for other things. So I don’t expect any increase in pump price,” he said.
He further added that he expects market forces to determine prices and that the NNPCL will no longer import petroleum products, and the more availability of the products, the cheaper the price.
He said, “So, at the beginning, it may seem to be increasing but I believe strongly that with the production from Dangote (Refinery) and then the other refineries when they become functional and the fact that it is now open to all to bring in products into the country, I can assure you that we may not even see higher pump prices.
“So, please let’s not dwell on the increase in pump price. We will assess it and if there is a need for us to intervene we will intervene.”