Fuel stations, especially those run by independent marketers, are now selling Premium Motor Spirit, also known as petrol, at prices higher than the Federal Government-approved price bands.
In the North, some fuel stations are selling petrol for as much as ₦685 per litre.
In July, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited fuel stations in Abuja and numerous Northern states hiked the price of gasoline from between ₦537 and ₦550 per litre to ₦617 per litre.
Additionally, the cost of PMS was raised to approximately ₦580 per litre in Lagos and other South-West states, from between ₦488 and ₦500 per litre.
The price increased from ₦515 per litre to almost ₦600 per litre in the South-South.
Major Importer Of Petrol
Oil marketers confirmed at the time that any shift in price by NNPCL stations was an indication of a rise in the pump price of PMS as approved by the Federal Government, because the NNPCL, being a national oil company, was also the major importer of petrol.
Indeed, the NNPCL is now the sole importer of petrol into Nigeria.
Other marketers stopped importing the commodity due to their inability to access the United States dollars, which is required for fuel imports.
“The price of petrol at NNPCL stations is believed to be the approved price by the government.
So once the NNPCL raises its price, every other marketer adjusts his own,” the Secretary of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Abuja-Suleja, Mohammed Shuaibu, stated.
End Of Fuel Subsidy
President Bola Tinubu, during his inaugural address on May 29, announced that subsidy on petrol had ended.
The development that led to the jump in the price of the commodity from ₦198/litre to over ₦500/litre on May 30, 2023.
But rather than dispense petrol around ₦580/litre and ₦617/litre bands in the South and North respectively, it was observed that dealers of the commodity were selling petrol for as high as ₦685/litre, particularly in some states in the North, such as Sokoto, Taraba, among others.
In Abuja, independent dealers jacked up their pump prices to as much as ₦630/litre, as black marketers who hawked the commodity in jerrycans sold theirs at about ₦850/litre.
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At the Aso Energy Resources Station in Kubwa Phase 2, it was observed that fuel was dispensed at ₦630/litre, against the approved rate of ₦617/litre.
A.A Rano filling station at the Jabi Garage, Abuja, dispensed PMS at ₦625/litre. Meanwhile, NNPCL filling stations at Wuse Zone 6 and Garki Area 10 dispensed the product at the normal pump price of ₦617/litre.
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