By Abba Hamisu Sani
Africa-Press – Nigeria. Initially Nigerians buy fuel at the same price regardless of the location ,State or geo political zone .
But recent reports going round, indicate that the new Price regime will be differen as that of Abuja the capital of the nation ,will be different from Lagos, Kano and Port Harcourt.
Africa Press Investigation in Kano indicate that ,there is no filling Station selling at the Government approved Price of 165 Naira.
Majority of the petrol Stations in Kano are own by Independent Marketers. Now the Price of the product range from 179 Naira to above as some are selling at 200 to 220 per litre. In a an interview recently conducted by Vanguard News Paper with Nigerian National Petroleum Company NNPC.
The Company, has denied issuing the directive on Nigeria’s new petrol price.
The company said fuel pricing directly falls under the responsibilities of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA. The spokesperson for the NNPC, Garba Deen Muhammad, said: “The NNPC no longer approves pump price review.
That is the work of the midstream and downstream authority. I have no idea. They are the ones that tell you what price regime the government has approved, not NNPC. NNPC has already exited all that situation.
Downstream sector operators unilaterally change the fuel price However, there was confusion in the downstream sector, , as operators unilaterally increased petrol price from N165 to N179 per litre as Government Agencies denied the increase.
In any case, most of the independent marketers were selling between N170 and N200 per litre in complete disobedience to the government directives.
Investigation by Africa Press showed that many oil marketers continue to sell at their preferred prices, depending on locations.
While responding on the reasons for the price increment , the chairman, Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, MOMAN, Mr. Olumide Adeosun, explained that the cost of operations had increased significantly, due to the ongoing Ukraine war and ban on Russian oil.
According to him, the increasing cost had overstretched the capacity of operators to distribute and market petrol in all parts of the country.
“Operational costs have increased significantly due to higher logistics costs locally and internationally (ongoing conflict in Ukraine and consequential sanctions against Russia).
He added that the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA and NNPC via the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company, PPMC are doing their best in the circumstances. Given the current economics, it is impossible to supply and sell products at the pump price of N165 considering the above situations.
Similarly, National Operation Controller, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, Mr. Mike Osatuyi, said it was impossible to sustain the previous N165 per litre regime.
He said: “We had tried in the past to sustain supply, but it is no more possible because of rising costs of operations in the downstream sector, especially now that the price of diesel has risen to N800 per litre.”
The need for total deregulation of the Petroleum Sectors
Also, the National President, Oil and Gas Service Providers Association of Nigeria, OGSPAN, Mazi Colman Obasi, said: “This seems to be an instant or temporary response to problems. From all indications, the complete deregulation of the sector is better.” If the sector is deregulated more opportunities will be created as transportation of the product is one of the major reasons for high cost of the product .With deregulation more innovations will emerged.
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