Fuel price hits N300 per litre in black market as scarcity returns
NNPC insists on sufficiency of products
PRICE of Premium Motor Spirit ( PMS) in the black market climbed to N300 per litre, as queues resurfaced in fuel stations in the Federal Capital Territory ( FCT) Abuja and other cities across the country at the weekend.
Most fuel stations closed for business in the FCT, as petrol marketers adjusted their pump price to N170 per litre in Lagos, while residents in Benin City, Edo State, experienced similar scenario.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation ( NNPC), which adjusted its retail price from N159 to N162, however, insisted that there was adequate supply of products in its outlets across the country. Spokesman of the corporation, Kennie Obateru, said only the market regulator could justify reasons for the queues, stressing that NNPC, which is also a player in the sector, had about 40- day sufficiency of product as at last week.
But most fuel stations belonging to the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria ( MOMAN) were shut, although prices remained around N163 in the
FCT, as at the time of filing this report.
The situation followed weeks of dialogue, as government feared backlash over anticipated increase in the pump price of petrol following the rise in crude oil price in the international market.
Considering Federal Government’s deregulation of the downstream sector of the petroleum industry last year, demand and supply forces, particularly, crude oil price, which now stands around $ 67 per barrel and exchange rate of N400 per $ 1 were indicators of the local price.
The price of petrol had risen from N121.50 to N123.50 per litre in June, N140.80 to
N143.80 in July and N148 to N150 in August, while it rose further to N158 and N162 per litre in September. An attempt to increase the price in December last year was resisted, as labour unions and government failed to reach an agreement on the issue.
The Nigeria Labour Congress ( NLC) and Trade Union Congress ( TUC) were angered at incessant hikes in fuel price and engaged the Federal Government in a dialogue, after which NNPC agreed to remove only N5 from the N167.44, a development Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, said would reduce the price to N162.44.
With rising crude price in the global market, labour returned to its earlier position, as Minister of Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva and Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mele Kyari, hinted of prospects of increase in price of petrol in line with government’s deregulation.
The development has currently led to another dialogue, for which state governors had to intervene.
On its part, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria ( IPMAN), which had closed their stations, also told The Guardian that the queues may linger, as there was already scarcity of petrol in most private depots, while the ex- depot, which was last week sold at N158 had risen to N167.