The Federal Government has attributed the recent hike in fuel price to the announcement of a breakthrough in Covid-19 Vaccine by American Company Pfizer.
Speaking to State House correspondents in Abuja, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr Timipre Sylva 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.
“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.”
The Minister who further explained that the pump price of petrol is directly determined by the price of crude oil in the global market, added that the government took the decision of deregulating the oil sector in order to ensure its optimum performance.
“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.”
Meanwhile, The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has called for the reversal of the hike in fuel price, stressing that it has worsened the misery of Nigerians.
The call was made by NLC President, Wahab Waba who urged the government to declare a state of emergency in the downstream sector of the petroleum industry.
According to him, the price adjustment violates the agreement organised labour reached with the government following the previous fuel price increase.
The NLC boss went on to reiterate the call by Labour for the rehabilitation of the country’s four refineries as contained in its agreement with the government.
