The Minister of States for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, has apologised to Nigerians over the purported increase in the price of petrol announced earlier by the Petroleum Products Pricing Agency, PPPRA.
The minister, in a statement he signed on Friday, disclosed that neither he nor President Muhammadu Buhari had given such approval.
He said: “Irrespective of the source of that information, I want to assure you that it is completely untrue.
“Neither Mr. President who is the Minister of Petroleum Resources, nor my humble self who deputise for him as Minister of State, has approved that the pump price of petrol should be increased by one naira.
“I would therefore urge you to disregard this misleading information.”
According to him, it is unthinkable that the Federal Government would unilaterally increase the pump price without finalising the ongoing discussions with the organised labour.
Mr Sylva said: “You are all aware that for the past few months the govt has been in consultation with organized labour to find the least painful option to respond to the global rise in the price of crude, which in turn has inevitably led to increase in the price of PMS.
“It is unthinkable that govt would unilaterally abandon these discussions and act in the manner suggested by the information under reference.”
The minister, therefore, apologised to all Nigerians for any distress and inconvenience, the unfortunate information might have caused.
