CITIZENS COMPASS– INDEPENDENT marketers of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly called petrol, have planned to shut down their outlets beginning from Monday, February 6, 2023, over the compulsory N195/litre pump price by the federal government.
The Punch newspaper gathered on Saturday that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, security agencies and the downstream regulator had all agreed that petrol is sold at N195/litre.
Oil marketers said the agreement was reached at a meeting in Abuja on Tuesday, as participants resolved that beginning from Monday, February 6, 2023, the pump price of petrol should not exceed N195/litre, a development which dealers, particularly independent marketers, described as tough due to the high ex-depot price of the commodity.
They told the press that to avoid having their outlets sanctioned, many filling stations operated by independent marketers would be shut from Monday as it made no business sense to sell a product lower than the cost price.
This will further prolong the petrol scarcity, and queues in many parts of the country as independent marketers control about 80 per cent of filling stations nationwide.
IPMAN’s National President, Debo Ahmed, told the Punch news correspondent that the approved ex-depot petrol price was recently raised from N148/litre by the NNPCL to N172/litre. Still, depots hardly dispense the commodity at this cost.
–Punch
