…says there is 34 days sufficiency but filling stations are dried up.
After subjecting Nigerians to agonies which have resulted in many sleeping at filling stations in order to purchase fuel, the Federal Government on Wednesday debunked the rumour of a planned hike of the price of fuel which is already selling for over N300 per litre in many parts of the country.
It disclosed that there was fuel supply stock that could last the country for 34 days. As concerns around fuel price and supply heightened, it described as speculations comment on PMS prices and its availability. However, filling stations across the country have no stocks to sell.
In a place like Lagos, some of the independent marketers sell fuel at between N240 and N300 per litre. It is an open secret that there has not been any regulatory agency around to enforce official prices. The commodity on average cost is as high as N285/litre in most filling stations in Abuja.
The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Authority is yet to say anything about arbitrariness in prices across the country.
The streets are littered with people hawking fuel at highly exorbitant prices.
However, the major Oil marketers still maintain some level of decorum when it comes to the issue of price as they sell at N178 per litre. But this is if they are able to get supply from NNPC to replenish their stocks.
Some officials of NNPC are already out with the official narrative of product diversion which many stakeholders have debunked as not true.
They emphasied the fact that NNPC is cash striped and it is no longer about to sustain the subsidy regime.
Ukadike Chinedu, National Public Relations Officer, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, had stated few days ago that most IPMAN members, who owned bulk of the filling stations across the country, were now subjected to purchasing PMS at about N220/litre, which was why many outlets currently dispensed at about N250/litre and above.
He said the cost of the commodity had been rising due its unavailability and other concerns in the sector, stressing that consumers should be ready to pay between N350/litre to N400/litre before the end of this year.
It was the comment that perhaps forced the NMDPRA issue an advisory note in respect of fuel price and it s availability on Wednesday.
“The authority wishes to inform the general public that the Federal Government has no intention of increasing the price of PMS during this period. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited has imported PMS with current stock levels sufficient for 34 days.
“Consequently, marketers and the general public are advised to avoid panic buying, diversion of products, and hoarding. In keeping with the authority’s responsibilities as outlined in the Petroleum Industry Act, the authority assures the public that it would continue to monitor the supply and distribution of all petroleum products nationwide, especially during this holiday season.”
NNPC is the sole importer of petrol into Nigeria. It has been shouldering this task for several years now, after other marketers of the commodity stopped importing the product due to their inability to access foreign exchange as required.
Oil marketers, who made the disclosure, also gave other reasons for the continued scarcity of petrol, which had led to the lingering queues at filling stations nationwide.
A managing director of one of the oil marketing companies told Business Standards that import charges on PMS are becoming unbearable for the sole importer of the commodity – NNPC, disclosing that the oil firm had been subtly pushing these charges to depot owners.
He said the ex-depot price of the product has risen to N185 per litre and that for any marketers to sell and still make little margin it has to properly at between N190 and N200 per litre.
Consequently, consumers have to bear the burden as depot owners have already added the charges on their part, are passing the charges to filling stations, which in turn push it to final consumers of the product, a development that has led to the increase in the pump price of the commodity.
It was also gathered that the Federal Government had quietly allowed depot owners to raise the ex-depot price of petrol to about N185/litre, whereas the approved rate used to be N147/litre.