Curated from the Nation Newspaper
Ex-depot price of petrol has risen by five basis points to N225 per litre, according to a survey of independent petroleum marketers as per a report by The Nation Newspaper.
The Nation reports that the pricing gap between regulated retail prices by major oil marketers and independent petroleum marketers widened to as much as 34 percent.
The strenuous long queues at major oil marketers’ stations and the bloated price at the independent marketers’ stations, left motorists with hard choices.
Worse still, the absence of effective monitoring by the regulatory body has created a loophole for the oil majors, with many engaging in underhand tactics to short-change motorists.
A major oil marketer runs a policy of compelling motorists and other users to buy its other products such as liquid car wash gel, engine oil and automatic transmission fluid (ATF) in consideration for the purchase of petrol at a regulated price of N169 to N170 per litre.
Attendants at another oil major’s stations imposed an extra charge of around N500 in consideration for purchase at the regulated price.
In Lagos, the queues have reduced considerably in areas with a large concentration of major oil marketers but most motorists within the suburbs remained at the mercy of cut-throat independent marketers.
Prices at several independent petrol marketers ranged from N250 to N270 per litre.
As The Nation monitored the petrol market in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) yesterday, only a few retail outlets were opened.
They were vending petrol at N180 per litre with a maximum of two pumps out of the lots in the stations.
The scarcity worsened the black marketing in the city as hawkers sold the product with plastic cans for about N3,000 per litre.
Ogun State chapter of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) yesterday said that all the depots belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) were dry, blaming the lingering scarcity on the company and federal government.
President, of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Alhaji Debo Ahmed told The Nation that there was product scarcity because NNPCL, the sole importer of petrol, was not doing enough.
He called on NNPCL to increase its reserve to 60 days of sufficiency stock to meet the country’s demand.
