Vehicles queue for petrol at a fuel station in Lagos, on September 4, 2024. – Already desperate with inflation, soaring food costs and a battered naira currency, Nigerians grappled on September 4, 2024 with widespread fuel scarcities and a decision by the state oil company to increase pump prices. For many, it was the latest measure to eat into their budgets as President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government introduces reforms aimed at reviving the economy of Africa’s most populous nation.
Oil marketers under the auspices of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) have urged the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) to protect industry players against the “sudden reduction” of petrol prices.
“The NMDPRA (Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority), and the consumer protection agency should swing into action and work collaboratively with all the stakeholders so that we can have a stable market, a stable price,” PETROAN President, Billy Gillis-Harry, said on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief programme on Tuesday.
On February 26, 2025, the $20bn refinery owned by Africa’s richest man and industrialist Aliko Dangote, slashed the ex-depot price of petrol from ₦890 to ₦825 per litre.
Under the new arrangement, customers purchase the premium commodity at ₦860 per litre at selected outlets in Lagos, ₦870 in the South-West, ₦880 in the North, and ₦890 in the South-South and South-East. Dangote has also reduced the price of diesel in recent times.
Petrol
NNPCL trucks lining up for petrol loading at the Dangote Refinery. X/@nnpclimited
Almost immediately, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited reduced its retail price from ₦945 to ₦860 in Lagos, with a similar price reduction reflection at NNPCL outlets in other states of the Federation.
Some analysts and industry experts have hailed the price war, saying it will “erode abnormal profit” enjoyed by capitalists but petrol marketers who still import the premium commodity have lamented the loss they incurred as a result of the sudden price drop.
Tankers lift petrol from Dangote Refinery on September 15, 2024 in Lagos
The PETROAN boss said, “My members are buying products from every possible source, and the size of the losses anticipated by unstable prices can only be imagined.
“The size of the loss and the possibility of most of us getting out of business glare at us in the face.
“As much as we are making efforts to ensure that Nigerians have products availability from our end, as the last mile in the industry, we also want to stay afloat in being liquid.
“The challenge we have is that we buy products today at a certain price, and before the close of business, the prices have reduced.
“Every business can only survive making a minimal profit that is commensurate to paying the cost of doing business.
“When we invest to buy the product say at about ₦890 and land it in our station at maybe an additional ₦10, ₦15 more, you are not going to expect us to sell less than that. And if that same product suddenly reduces to ₦840 or ₦860 or ₦870, it becomes worrisome how we are going to recover the cost of our money.”
Gillis-Harry demanded a liberalised trade with a mix of local production and importation, saying “nobody should be left out or left behind” in the value chain.
He said marketers “have capacity to do our imports and we have capacity to buy products locally refined. However, if consistently, we are seeing that prices shift down, and there are no clear consultations on how this should be done, to the benefit of Nigerians,” it threatens business.
“There should be a mechanism by which this price fluctuation should be analysed and ensure that it doesn’t impact negatively on the industry,” he said.
