The Group Chief Executive of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mr Bayo Ojulari, has attributed the recent rise in cooking-gas prices to the strike embarked upon by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN.
The latter embarked on industrial action in protest of the 3000 Staff sacked by Dangote Refinery.
The strike which was called off after the federal government healed the rift between the union and Dangote Refinery management disrupted loading and distribution of Petroleum products, while it lasted.
Speaking to State House correspondents on Sunday, after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu, Ojulari said the strike impeded operations for several days and produced an “artificial” spike in prices.
“The increase you saw was relatively artificial because for the period of the strike, movements and loading were delayed by about two, three days.
“And because of that, you see that impact. As things return back to normal, it takes some time for distribution to be fully restored,” he said.
Before he added: “As you know, in Nigeria, people take opportunity. With that delay, some of the people that had existing resources and reserves had to put up the price.
“My expectation is that now that things are back to normal, prices should return to what they were before the strike.”
