Citizens agonize as petrol sells above N1,000 per litre
By Kasim Isa Muhammad
Kanempress News
3rd September 2024
Citizens in Nigeria are groaning as the cost of Premium Motor Spirit (Petrol) has hit over N1000 per litre.
This comes as Dangote Refinery offers the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited a lifeline to exit the petrol importation burden.
Earlier, the 650,000 barrels per day Lagos-based refinery confirmed to Kanempress that it has commenced PMS production.
This is according to the Spokesperson of Dangote Group, Anthony Chiejina, on Monday, as the Dangote petrol would ease endless fuel queues, foster Nigeria’s productivity and ensure energy security.
“The Refinery has started producing Premium Motor Spirit. When it gets to commercial quantity and hits the market, you will know”, he told Kanempress.
“The aim is to ensure that the product is available and affordable, so that Nigerians will not continue to queue endlessly losing man-hours of work.
“All the man-hours lost, productivity lost due to fuel queues, people don’t have to queue. You get your fuel as at when you want it. You can imagine the level of productivity the country will gain”, he noted.
Dangote Petrol processing kick-off comes amid the anxiety created by NNPCL’s admission of financial strain over sustainable supply costs and indebtedness to oil suppliers amounting to over $6 billion.
The state-owned company’s spokesperson, Olufemi Soneye said that, “This financial strain has placed considerable pressure on the company and poses a threat to the sustainability of fuel supply”.
This means that NNPCL is constrained to the under-recovery cost of petrol, otherwise known as subsidy as import bills rise.
The NNPCL had admitted that its financial strain is generating reactions among stakeholders and public analysts which further compounded the crisis in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.
No need to panic amid fuel price hike – IPMAN to citizens
In reaction to the development, the President of Independent Petroleum Marketers of Nigeria, IPMAN, Abubakar Maigandi urged citizens not to panic over NNPCL’s admittance of financial indebtedness and anxiety over the pump price hike.
“Nigerians should not panic about the position of financial strain by NNPCL. It is normal for businesses to be indebted.
“We are working with NNPCL to see that the product is available for Nigerians.
“If there is a price increment, NNPCL would have announced, same with the availability of the product”, price hike – IPMAN to citizens
The President of Independent Petroleum Marketers of Nigeria, IPMAN, Maigandi said.
On the cost marketers are buying petrol, he said, “those who obtain their product through the NNPCL sell at N650 to N700 per liter and those who get through the private depot owners sell at N920.
“Marketers who carry the product, especially those who are carrying from Lagos State to Northeast Maiduguri in Borno or Calabar, Cross State to Maiduguri, will be above N920 because they have to add their transportation cost and profit margin.
“We want NNPCL to give petrol to our members directly.”
Fuel Queues Persist
Kanempress went round the nation’s Capital and gathered that only a few filling stations were dispensing fuel with long queues.
Only NNPCL and a few other retail outlets were seen dispensing fuel at N617 per litre along Kubwa Expressway. RainOil in Gwarimpa sold at N720 per litre.
In Nasarawa, Niger and Kogi states, the product was sold for between N850 to N1,100 per liter on Monday.
Delta, Bayelsa, Cross Rivers, Imo, Enugu and Abia state residents got petrol between N870 to N1000 per liter.
“Presently, the products are not available as they should be. The products are not sufficiently available because some marketers are still waiting for the supply.
“We are waiting for a response from Dangote Refinery on PMS loading. For now, we have not gotten any written documents.
“If the directive comes, we will direct our marketers to go there for Petrol”, Maigandi said.
As a solution, the leader of IPMAN said, “The government should fast-track the CNG program to provide a better alternative for Nigerians.”
Nigeria’s oil, gas sector poorly managed under Tinubu- Madaki
On his part, the Managing Partner, BBH Consulting and Convener, Public Interest Advocacy Network, PIAN, Barr. Ameh Madaki, said that Nigeria’s oil and gas sector was being poorly managed under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s regime.
Madaki urged Nigerian government to act fast to tackle the challenges the sector faced before a complete collapse.
“I must reiterate that the Oil and Gas industry in Nigeria is very poorly managed,” Madaki said.
“Recently, NNPCL published a N3.3 trillion ‘profit’, which informed analysts wrote off as paper profits.
“What is happening in NNPCL is similar to the scandal in Enron where opaque and ingenious accounting led to the collapse of the largest consulting firm in the world at the time.
“Until professional organizations begin to know that there are consequences for their actions, Nigeria will continue to wallow in the current situation.
“NNPCL’s admission that they have a debt overhang of over $6 billion in a scenario where Nigerians are groaning under the weight of exorbitant petroleum products prices across board, which has driven up the prices of everything else in the country is unconscionable.
“The Government needs to act fast by cleaning the Augean Stable and restoring professionalism and transparency in the running of this all-important sector of the Nation’s economy”, Madaki said.
He further said that another fuel price increase shows that the government is careless about the plight of Nigerians.
