The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited on Tuesday approved the increment of fuel pump price in Nigeria from N165 per litre to N179 per litre. This is after several weeks of fuel scarcity in Nigeria’s major cities, including Lagos, Abuja and Oyo.
NNPC standardized the pump price of fuel nationwide, seeing that because of fuel scarcity, some fuel outlets were unofficially adopting different price bands while others were selling above the displayed prices.
Why the increment
- The Chairman of IPMAN, Lagos Satellite Depot, Ejigbo, Mr. Akin Akinrinade, who narrated the ordeal of petroleum marketers in the country stated that some retailers shut their stations because they were operating at a loss.
- According to Mr. Akinrinade, IPMAN members paid over N1 billion to the Pipelines and Product Marketing Company (PPMC) in October 2021 for the supply of petroleum products.
- PPMC is yet to supply the product to the retailers, forcing the latter to patronize private depots for petroleum products while also servicing borrowed funds from commercial banks for their money with PPMC.
- The private depots then increased the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) from N148.17 to N162 per litre while the fixed pump price of PMS by the federal government is N165 per litre leaving the retailers with a gain of N3 per litre exclusive of the cost of operation.
What to watch
Financial analysts have projected the prices of goods and services nationwide to increase in the next few days, as a pricing pattern in Nigeria shows that as fuel prices increase, so do the prices of goods and services.