Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has reportedly suspended the sale of Premium Motor Spirit – popularly called petrol – to independent marketers after it hiked the product’s price on Tuesday.
This is even as three vessels berthed at the Apapa, Lagos jetty on Wednesday to discharge imported petrol.
The price hike sparked a protest in Delta State as commercial tricycle operators, also known as ‘keke’ riders, took to the streets of Warri and Effurun metropolis to resist the price hike.
Checks by our correspondents revealed that commuters across the country were either stranded or trekked long distances on Wednesday as fuel queues worsened amid scarcity of the product.
Few commercial motorists came out for business, with most of them lamenting the agonising hike in fuel, barely a month after the hardship protest rocked the nation.
The National Vice President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Hammed Fashola, told The PUNCH that the NNPC stopped selling fuel to independent marketers on Tuesday when it raised the price of a litre of PMS to N855 and above across its retail outlets nationwide.
Independent marketers sold the product for as much as N1,200 and N1,300/litre in some states following the upward review of prices by the NNPC.
Fashola wondered why the national oil firm would suspend the sale of petrol to the marketers take without any official communication, even when the marketers had paid for the product over two months ago.
Asked if it was true that many of the independent marketers did not go to the depot to lift fuel, Fashola responded, “What are they going there to do? They have stopped our loading. All the tickets we have in the kitties of NNPC, they are not treating them; everything has been suspended.”
When our correspondent inquired to know if the suspension was done despite having paid for the product ordered, he replied, “Yes, our tickets were suspended for loading. They have not been attending to us since yesterday (Tuesday), and there is no official communication yet.
“It is a very bad situation for somebody who has paid for the product, maybe like two to three months ago, and all of a sudden, you stopped loading, maybe because you want to change the price. And it’s not the fault of that customer, because it is supposed to be cash-and-carry. So, I think the NNPC should look at that situation critically.”
It was learnt that NNPC usually prioritised major marketers while IPMAN members resorted to private depot owners, who sold at higher prices, leading to a wide gap between the prices offered by both categories of marketers.
“We’re usually forced to go to private depots, it’s not out of our own volition. We were forced to go there because of inadequate supply,” Fashola stressed.
Speaking on the Dangote refinery fuel, which is expected to hit the pumps soon, Fashola said marketers would monitor the situation till Friday.
“We are watching the development. We are monitoring it; we will wait, maybe by Friday we will know where we are going by the time the Federal Government makes a pronouncement as regards the price. There is no official communication yet.”
The IPMAN official added that each filling station sold at their convenient price because NNPC couldn’t fix prices for other operators in the sector.
He stated that the new price announced by the state-owned company is only binding on the NNPC retail outlets.
“You know, NNPC cannot fix the price for us. They fixed the price for their stations; they are now a limited company. They have their retail outlets. That new price is their internal arrangement. So, we are yet to have an ex-depot price or marketer’s price,” he explained.
While believing that the new arrangement will close the price disparity between major and independent marketers, Fashola reiterated that at N855 per litre, the NNPC was still paying subsidy on petrol.
“I believe the price disparity gap will be closed somehow now. That is our belief. The truth is that, with the N855 in Lagos, and the landing cost of petrol, there are still some elements of subsidy. If the NNPC claimed that they are selling at half the cost of the landing price at N568/litre, it means the landing cost should be around N1, 200/litre. If they are selling a litre of petrol at N855/litre, there are still some elements of subsidy,” he added.
He said the association was expecting the details of the arrangement between Dangote and the government on the supply of PMS, especially as Aliko Dangote announced that the NNPC would fix the price.
“For now, we don’t have the details; it’s only Dangote who made the announcement that NNPC would fix the price. So, it’s in two ways. Maybe NNPC wants to act as an off-taker for the Dangote refinery, and they will now start distributing on behalf of Dangote to the marketers. There are a lot of things involved in this Dangote naira-to-naira transaction. There must be something that’s a factor. Maybe that will bring the price to a reasonable level, I don’t know. It may not be called a subsidy, maybe an in-house arrangement.
“If Dangote is buying naira-to-naira, there must be some little difference in terms of cost. It might be so small, but I believe there must be a difference. They know what they are doing, we are waiting for them to come out and we will react,” Fashola noted.
NNPC spokesperson, Olufemi Soneye, did not reply to calls or messages from our correspondent on the matter.
It was reported that the fuel crisis that has lingered for two months worsened on Wednesday following the price hike.
Several filling stations seized the opportunity to extort customers who were in dire need of the product for their vehicles, power generators and other machines.
Some of the stations in Lagos and along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway sold petrol around N900 and N1,200/litre as the queues worsened across Nigeria’s commercial capital city.
Residents of Ogun border communities disclosed that they got PMS at N1,600/litre from black marketers, claiming petrol supply had been banned from the areas.
Though the NNPC denied ordering Tuesday price increase, all its retail stations have adjusted to the new price, leaving Nigerians not knowing who to believe.
Commuters were stranded as there were a few commercial buses on the road to convey passengers. The drivers conveyed only commuters who were ready to pay more for transport fares, blaming the rise in fares on the high cost of fuel
