Nigeria’s state-owned oil firm, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), announced on Thursday that it had no intention of increasing petrol prices.

This comes amid speculation that it could increase prices to recover some of its import costs given the devaluation of the Naira and the cost of purchasing and importing refined petrol.

The NNPC, which is the sole importer of petrol because local private firms are unable to obtain sufficient foreign currency, urged Nigerians to disregard the speculation about price increases, adding that “there are no plans for an upward review of the (petrol) price.”

Since President Bola Tinubu ended the expensive fuel subsidy and loosened limits on currency trading in July of last year, which caused petrol prices to more than quadruple, Nigerians have been feeling the impact.

The measures exacerbated the cost of living crisis by driving inflation to a nearly three-decade high in December, contrary to the president’s hopes that this would jump-start the economy’s flagging growth.

Unions have put pressure on Tinubu to provide assistance to small firms and households after he removed the subsidy that kept petrol prices low but came at a $10 billion cost to the government in 2022.

The president has insisted he is aware of the difficulties brought about by the removal of the subsidy and was keeping an eye on how inflation and the exchange rate were affecting the price of petrol. He also promised to step in if and when needed.

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s major unions expressed disappointment over the government’s inability to keep promises made to mitigate the effects of reforms and issued a two-week ultimatum to the government to comply with requests ranging from increased wages to better access to public utilities.