Speaking with State House correspondents on Sunday after meeting with President Bola Tinubu, Ojulari explained that the industrial action, which lasted several days, halted operations and triggered what he described as an “artificial” spike in prices.
“The increase you saw was relatively artificial because during the strike, movement and loading were delayed by about two to three days,” he said. “As things return to normal, it takes some time for full distribution to be restored.”
The PENGASSAN strike, launched in protest over the dismissal of Nigerian workers at the Dangote Refinery, was suspended on October 1 following federal government intervention.
Ojulari also accused some retailers and middlemen of taking advantage of the shortfall to raise prices unnecessarily.
“You know, in Nigeria, people take opportunities. With that delay, some of those who already had reserves increased their prices,” he noted.
The NNPC chief, however, assured Nigerians that the situation was stabilising and that prices would soon revert to normal levels as supply chains are restored.
“Now that things are back to normal, and with Dangote Group’s agreement to redeploy the affected staff, operations have resumed. My expectation is that prices will soon return to what they were before the strike,” he stated.
Ojulari emphasised that the collaboration between the federal government, the Dangote Group, and industry stakeholders was already helping to ease the supply bottlenecks that caused the temporary market distortion.
