Marketers Say Fuel Scarcity May Hit Nigeria Soon, Petrol to Sell for N800/Litre
- Marketers have expressed a counter opinion on earlier claims of subsidy removal by the FG
- They claim that with current realities, petrol may soon hike to N800 per litre
- The marketers lament that they are currently unable to compete due to the high cost of petrol
Oil marketers in Nigeria have insisted that the Federal Government has resumed the payment of subsidies on fuel.
They insist that given current realities in the supply chain, including a rising landing cost of the product, petrol should sell for no less than N800/litre if the subsidy payment has not resumed.
This was in response to an earlier claim by Kyari that the long lines that motorists had noticed at gas stations across the nation were caused by problems with the shipment of goods from the South to the North, not a shortage of fuel.
Source: UGC
It would be noted that since the Federal Government suspended the payment of fuel subsidy, the price of petrol has jacked up, selling for between N580/litre and N617/litre depending on the location of purchase.
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Marketers insist government is subsidising fuel
According to Chief John Kekeocha, National Secretary of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, the government's claim that subsidies have been eliminated is untrue, Punch reports.
Kekeocha said:
“I don’t know why the government keeps peddling lies. When they removed the PMS subsidy, a dollar was about N700 and they made us believe that the removal of the subsidy would make the supply of products play according to the dictates of demand and supply, looking at forex as the benchmark.
“Now, this is just simple arithmetic, if you removed the subsidy when a dollar was about N700 and today the dollar is more than N1,000, and you are still supplying and giving products at almost the same rate, what is the magic? They are subsidising products as we speak.
He pointed out that the government spends billions of naira on product subsidies. He claims that they maintain distorting the truth because if Nigerians purchase goods at roughly N1,000/litre, this nation could go on fire.
He claimed that the government got rid of the subsidies without thoroughgoing the consequences.
Speaking about the downstream industry's consequences of these worries, Kekeocha predicted that there will soon be a fuel shortage.
He said:
“I am telling you that in a very short time, there will be no product anywhere in this country, apart from the tank farms that have access to diesel.
“This is because many marketers cannot even function well with the cost of diesel. Check the cost of diesel and the cost of supply and distribution. How many marketers can do it and sell at about N600/litre? The cost of landing PMS is over N700/litre.”
When the cost of transporting PMS from Warri to Abuja or other northern states by an independent marketer is added, he pointed out that petrol costs roughly N700/litre.
He added that only subsidy could keep the price of fuel where it is presently, at roughly N600 plus. He warned that if that weren't the case, the price of a litre of fuel would rise to N800 or more at any time.
Legit.ng previously reported that the Nigerian Midstream and a Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) is engaging with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to facilitate smoother access to foreign exchange for oil marketers.
FG warns petrol stations against pump adjustments, says operators risk license revocation
The NMDPRA earlier said it would sanction petrol station operators who adjust or alter petrol pumps, Legit.ng reported.
The Chief Executive of NMDPRA, Farouk Ahmed, revealed this at an interactive session with the Revenue Mobilisation and Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) commissioners on Friday, September 22, 2023, in Abuja.
The NMDPRA boss said that petrol stations caught dispensing petrol with altered pumps would face severe sanctions.
Source: Legit.ng
