Page 12 - DMEA Week 28 2022
P. 12
DMEA FUELS DMEA
Nigeria sees long queues
as gasoline prices spike
AFRICA FILLING stations in Lagos, Abuja, Niger and explained that all filling stations that had fuel
other regions were selling gasoline (known were selling, while those with no fuel to sell had
locally as premium motor spirit, or PMS) at shut down.
a price of up to NGN250 ($0.60) per litre on “The problem is that every side needs to be
July 10, a significant increase over the govern- transparent. We as retail outlet owners are ready
ment-approved retail price of NGN165 ($0.39), to sell petroleum products to the teeming Nige-
local newspaper Punch revealed. rian public. We have no reason why we should
The price hikes come as long queues wors- not sell our products,” he said.
ened throughout the country, due to the insuf- “There is no retail outlet owner that is hoard-
ficient supply of products by the Nigerian ing product or diverting it. Yes, we know there
National Petroleum Co. Ltd (NNPC Ltd), the may be bad eggs among the good bunch, but the
sole importer of gasoline into Nigeria. fact that we are not having sufficient products is
Punch also reported that black marketers what has remained the cause of fuel scarcity.”
were selling fuel at an even higher price, as spec- A week before, the Independent Petroleum
ulators attempted to make a quick buck in the Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN)
chaos. Abuja has seen long queues to refill cars warned that Nigeria could witness “the mother
since February, but the issue has grown worse. of all queues” if the government failed to pay
Fuel marketers have denied hoarding petroleum money owed to the fuel sector.
products and have placed the blame squarely IPMAN’s members control around 70% of
on NNPC Ltd, claiming that non-payment petrol stations in the country, and the associa-
for transportation of gasoline is the reason for tion claims that it is owed bridging claims by a
scarcity. federal government agency, the Nigerian Mid-
Speaking to Punch, the head of Petroleum stream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory
Products Retail Outlets owners Association Authority (NMDPRA). Abuja claims to have
of Nigeria (PETROAN) Billy Gillis-Harry paid up.
P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 28 14•July•2022
