Oil marketers yesterday unilaterally raised the pump price of petrol from N165 per litre to N185 in disregard to the Federal Government approved pump price of N165 per litre.
The hike which came a day after Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), said the current price was no longer realistic saw the disappearance of queues at filling stations around Abuja metropolis.
Checks at some filling stations by Vanguard showed that while some stations raised the price by just N10 per litre, most hiked the price by N20.
At NIPCO filling station in Mabushi District, the price was N175 per litre with few vehicles in the station.
Speaking to Vanguard, a motorist who identified himself as Mallam Ibrahim noted that it was better to buy N175 per litre than to spend four hours on the queue waiting to buy at N165 per litre.
He said: “My friend, is this not better? Why should we spend so much time just to buy petrol? Even though I do not support full deregulation because of its impact on the price of goods, the government should have raised the price a little to accommodate the complaints of the marketers and save people the agony of queuing every time for fuel”.
At Mobil filling station in Karu, the price was N185 per litre without queues also. However, the price remained at N165 per litre at TotalEnergies filling station at Central Business District.
Speaking on the development, the Public Relations Officer, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, Chief Chinedu Ukadike said it was expected as marketers have to cover their cost of operation.
Ukadike explained that the marketers have been running at a loss these past months, pointing out that most stations closed down because of this.
According to him, “Abinitio, we have also stated that there is no way marketers will buy products from private depots who are now selling at N170 and some at N167 depending on the area the tank farm is situated. These private tank farms owners have made it clear that they cannot sell at government approved price.“
to another across the country because of where the product was sourced by the marketer.
“While those (marketers) in Calabar might buy at N170 or those in Port Harcourt at N162 or those in Lagos at N163 depending on how the tank farm owner got his product, if you include cost of logistics and the numerous taxes government have imposed on us, then the end result is what you are seeing”, he stated.