The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has informed the public that the current fuel shortages and the accompanying queues will be resolved by Wednesday.

Olufemi Soneye, Chief Communications Officer at NNPCL, shared this information with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Lagos.

He stated that the company has more than 1.5 billion litres of fuel in stock, sufficient to last for at least 30 days.

“Unfortunately, we experienced a three-day disruption in distribution due to logistical issues, which has since been resolved.

“However, as you know, overcoming such disruptions typically requires double the amount of time to return to normal operations.

“Some folks are taking advantage of this situation to maximize profits.

“Thankfully, product scarcity has been minimal lately, but these folks might be exploiting the situation for unwarranted gain.

“The lines will be cleared out between today and tomorrow,” Soneye assured.

The federal government has approved an increase of between 25 percent and 35 percent salary increase for civil servants on the six consolidated salary structures.

NAN reports that the salary increase, announced on the eve of the Workers’ Day celebration, is contained in a statement issued by Emmanuel Njoku, head of press, at the national salaries, incomes and wages commission (NSIWC).

The statement said the increase takes effect from January 1, 2024.

The six consolidated salary structures are consolidated public service salary structure (CONPSS); consolidated research and allied institutions salary structure (CONRAISS); consolidated police salary structure (CONPOSS); consolidated para-military salary structure (CONPASS); consolidated intelligence community salary structure (CONICCS); and consolidated armed forces salary structure (CONAFSS).

The federal government also approved an increase in pension of between 20 percent and 28 percent for pensioners on the defined benefits scheme with respect to the six consolidated salary structures.

Health workers, academic and non-academic staff working in federal tertiary institutions are not included in this latest salary increase.

In July 2023, the federal government approved a 25 percent salary increase for health workers under the consolidated health salary structure (CONHESS) and consolidated medical salary structure (CONMESS).

In September 2023, the federal government also announced a percentage increase in salaries for academic and non-academic staff of all tertiary institutions across the country.

The house of representatives has asked the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to suspend the implementation of the new tariff.

The lower legislative chamber passed the resolution during plenary session on Tuesday, following the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance.

The motion was sponsored by Nkemkanma Kama, a Labour Party (LP) lawmaker from Enonyi state.

On April 3, NERC approved an increase in electricity tariff for customers under the Band A classification.

The commission said customers under the category, who receive 20 hours of electricity supply daily, would begin to pay N225 per kilowatt (kW), starting from April 3 — up from N66.

Defending the tariff hike before the senate committee on power on Monday, Adebayo Adelabu, minister of power, said the federal government could not afford to pay subsidies on power anymore.

He said for the sector to be revived, the government needs to spend about $10 billion annually in the next 10 years.

“This is because of the infrastructure requirement for the stability of the sector, but the government cannot afford that,” the minister had said.

Adelabu said investors are now showing interest in the electricity sector because of the increased electricity tariff for Band A customers.