Nigerians woke up to a shocking conversation about an impending increase in the petrol pump price, which is currently N650 per litre.

At press time, the negative effects on the cost of living in Nigeria dominated the conversation about a N1,200-per-litre petrol pump price.

Social media influencers and popular blogs have also shared news about the new price.

FIJ checked to verify the news source about a new petrol pump price in Nigeria.

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CLAIM: Operators peg the price of petrol at N1,200 per litre.

Many claims can be found in the posts with the keywords ‘N1,200’ and ‘fuel N1,200’ that topped the trends table on social media platforms such as X on Wednesday.

“Hardship lurks around the corner as operators reportedly peg the petrol price at N1,200 per litre,” Instablog posted for its 3.4 million followers on X. The blog did the same on its other social media accounts.

The Instablog post had been viewed over 30,000 times on X alone at press time.

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The same claims of a new petrol pump price have made it into the inner world of WhatsApp groups and closed Facebook communities.

VERIFICATION: FIJ established that the new N1,200-per-litre petrol pump price claim came from an interview granted to The PUNCH.

By isolating and highlighting the words of an Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) official, FIJ determined if the operators had pegged a new petrol pump price.

Ukadike Chinedu, the National Public Relations Officer of IPMAN, told reporters that petrol should cost N1,200 per litre in a free market.

“To be pragmatic in this analysis, let’s consider the cost of petrol today in the United States. For premium petrol, it is $2.99, while super petrol sells for $3.15 or $3.10 depending on the part of that country where you are making the purchase,” Chinedu said.

“Now, $3 in Nigeria is over N3,000, because a dollar in the parallel market is over N1,000. You can also see the cost of diesel, that is over N1,000 per litre, and it is important to state that petrol is usually higher in price than diesel in a free market.

“So if you consider the cost of diesel, dollar and other international factors, the price of petrol in Nigeria should be around N1,200 per litre. But the government is subsidising it, which to an extent, is understandable.”

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Chinedu did not make an announcement on behalf of IPMAN. He projected what the petrol pump price if subsidies were not paid.

He also made a N3,000-per-litre projection for the petrol pump price in Nigeria.

IPMAN or petroleum marketers and operators have not pegged petrol pump price at N1,200 per litre.

CONCLUSION: The claim that operators or marketers have pegged the petrol pump price at N1,200 is false.