Announcement Of COVID-19 Vaccine Led To Increment Of Petrol Prices

The recent increase in the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), known as petrol, has been blamed on the announcement of a COVID-19 vaccine by Pfizer.

This was disclosed by the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, stating that the price of crude oil "went up a little" after the announcement of a vaccine for COVID-19.

He said that the increase in the price of crude oil directly affected the price of petrol.

He said, “What happened recently was because of the announcement of a vaccine for COVID-19 by Pfizer. With that, crude oil prices went up a little bit,” the minister said after a routine visit to President Muhammadu Buhari at the Aso Villa.

“If you have been following crude oil prices, you would have seen that crude oil prices went up a little bit as a result of this announcement.

“So, when crude oil prices go up a little bit, then you will see that (it will) instantly reflect on the price of petrol, which is a derivative of crude oil.

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“When the price of crude oil goes up, then it means that the price of the fixed stock has gone higher; it will also affect the price of the refined product and that is why you see that product prices are usually not static, it depends on the price of crude oil which goes up and down.

“That is why we say, deregulate so that as the price goes up or down, you begin to go up and down as well at the pump. Before now, we fixed it – which was not optimal for us as a country.”

NLC Blames Big-Time Smugglers

The recent hike has received criticisms from various corners, with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) stating that the big-time smugglers of petroleum need to be made accountable, questioning the government's willingness to go against "major financiers of the major political parties" that are blamed for the "current national woe".

The NLC, in a statement, said, “The question in the minds of many Nigerians is whether the government is willing to go against major financiers of the major political parties known to the public as the architects of the current national woe.

“In line with our recent agreement with the government, we will be receiving updates in the next few days from our unions in the petroleum sector which have been given the mandate to keep surveillance on the government’s promise to overhaul our public refineries.

“We will also receive updates from our representatives in the electricity review committee. The updates we receive will determine whether the government has kept to its side of the bargain which is to take serious steps to recover and reposition our public refineries."