Deborah Akinyosoye
The price of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, otherwise known as petrol, yesterday, increased by 6.8 per cent to N955 per litre, from N890 per litre sold last week.
Stations of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, and stations owned by Independent Marketers in Lagos and Abuja showed that the petrol was dispersed between N900 and N955 per litre.
In a phone interview with the Public Relations Officer, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, Mr. Chinedu Ukadike attributed the hike to supply and logistics challenges incurred by major marketers in the industry, which include NNPCL and Dangote Refinery.
He noted: “Dangote increased their loading price to N845 per litre, as against N825 earlier sold, thereby resulting to a selling price of between N900 and N955, depending on the location.
“We are aware that NNPCL supplies only to their retail outlets. Presently, the supply at Dangote is not sufficient for marketers. Most of our members, who paid for products to Dangote, are yet to load for two weeks now.
“I will say that when people are scrambling for products, it results to hike in price. Some marketers, who paid to buy about three million litres from Dangote, were only given one million litres, as they complained of products being rationed amongst marketers.”