The second price increase by the company within six weeks has thrown motorists into panic-buying mode across the country.
Retail outlets owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) adjusted the pump price of petrol on Wednesday in Lagos and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
It was noted that several NNPCL stores in Lagos were charging ₦998 for a litre of the necessary good, which is approximately ₦150 more than the ₦855 starting price. At the NNPCL stores near Abule-Egba, U-turn, Abbatoir, and other points along the axis, there were long, serpentine lines as drivers and transporters went into a panic and began making rash purchases.Many filling stations that are not owned by the NNPCL quickly followed suit and increased their pump prices little by little. These stations were selling as much as ₦1050 in various parts of Lagos.
Fuel Sold By NNPCL: ₦1,030 In The Federal Capital Territory, And ₦998 per Litre In Lagos
The situation remained the same in Abuja, with NNPCL retail outlets raising the price of the necessary good from ₦897 to ₦1,030.The new increase came after the NNPCL’s increase on September 2, 2024. Outrage was caused when the retail company increased the price of petrol from 568 to 855.
Subsidy Is Gone’Following the May 2023 presidential declaration that “Subsidy is gone,” the NNPCL has progressively raised the price of petrol at the pump in Lagos, bringing it up to 998.The NNPCL began loading its first batch of petrol from the Dangote Refinery in mid-September, raising hints of a new price increase even though the company has not released an official statement regarding the most recent increase in petrol prices.
Subsequently, the NNPCL declared that it purchased gasoline from the private refinery for ₦898 per litre and would sell it in Lagos for ₦950 and in Borno for ₦ 1,019 per litre.Initially, Dangote Refinery denied selling fuel to the NNPCL for ₦898 per litre. However, the retail company maintained that it purchased fuel from Dangote Refinery for ₦898 per litre and demanded that the refinery disclose the price at which it sold fuel. A breakdown of the prices for Dangote petrol at its filling stations around the nation was also made public by the NNPCL.
The largest industrialist in Africa, Dangote, started producing 350,000 barrels per day at his $20 billion plant in Lagos last December.After being hampered at first by legal disputes over regulations, the refinery plans to reach its maximum capacity of 650,000 barrels per day by the end of the year.The refinery started supplying the nation’s marketers with diesel, aviation fuel and now petrol.Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, has energy problems because none of its state-owned refineries are currently in use. The state-owned NNPC is the main importer of the necessary goods, and the nation is largely dependent on imported refined petroleum products.
In the nation, lines for fuel are not uncommon. Due to the decades-long epileptic electricity supply, the cost of petrol has more than quadrupled since President Bola Tinubu removed the subsidy in May 2023, going from about 200/litre to over 1000/litre. This has made matters worse for the citizens who use petrol to power their cars and generators.