Marketers want petrol to sell for more than N145 per litre

monjola sotubo

September 5, 2016 1:52 PM

The price of fuel was increased from N86 to N145 in May 2016 with the government instructing marketers not to sell above the stated price.

People queue with their vehicles to buy fuel in front of a fuel station at Agege district in Lagos, Nigeria April 5, 2016. To match NIGERIA-OIL/ REUTERS/Akintunde Akinleye

Fuel marketers in the country have urged the Federal Government to give room for an increment in the

However the marketers have argued that the current price regime is not sustainable due to the fall in the value of the naira against the U.S dollar.

“The official rate today is about N315 or so. So, from N200 to N315/dollar and if we have to recover cost, can we still continue to sell at N145? I think it is simple based on the forex crisis unless there is a magic maybe they want to start giving importers special rate at N200/dollar and you don’t run economy that way,” a member of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) Press Committee, Barrister Dibu Aderibigbe told Daily Trust.

Marketers had earlier warned that an increase in the price of fuel was imminent due to the scarcity of foreign exchange to finance the importation of the product into the country.

“The truth is that Nigerians just have to brace for higher PMS price; there are no two ways about it. The government cannot fund this market; the money is not just there,” one oil marketer said in August.

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The Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr Maikanti Baru however said, at the time, that there’s no plan to increase the price of fuel in the country.

monjola sotubo