Like Dangote Refinery, NNPC crashes petrol price to ₦880 per litre
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has reduced the price of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) to ₦880 per litre in Lagos and ₦935 in Abuja even as marketers lamented their losses on Monday.
From ₦925, some NNPC retail outlets in Abuja, Port Harcourt and Lagos changed their pump price to ₦880 on Easter Monday, while those in Kano adjusted from ₦950 to ₦935.
The NNPC price reduction came barely a week after the Dangote Refinery lowered its ex-depot price from ₦865 to ₦835 per litre.
The $20bn refinery also directed its partners like MRS, Heyden, and Ardova to sell a litre of petrol at the rate of ₦890 instead of ₦920 in Lagos, ₦900 in the South West, ₦910 in the South-South, and ₦920 in the North East.
However, some NNPC filling stations are still selling at the old rate. But marketers said these stations were given the liberty to exhaust old stock before adjusting to the new prices.
In an interview, the National Vice President of the Independent Marketers Association of Nigeria, Hammed Fashola, confirmed the price reduction, stressing that filling station operators were losing money.
He said that NNPC Retail sent a memo to its outlets to effect the new prices.
“It is confirmed that NNPC has reduced PMS prices. It is now ₦880 per litre in Lagos. They sent messages to their retail outlets. Some of them have already put the price at ₦880. However, they allow those having old stock to continue selling at the old rate. Some are still selling at ₦910.
“Those are the ones that still have their old stock. So, the same thing applies to independent marketers. Those that have their old stock are still trying to see how they can dispense it,” he stated.
Read also: Again, Dangote slashes petrol price to N835 per litre
While acknowledging that the fluctuation in fuel prices is one part of deregulation, Fashola declared that marketers are losing money.
“The price reduction is a welcome development, but at the same time it hurts on the side of the marketers. We are losing money. That’s just the truth. We are losing money. That’s the bitter truth,” he said.
According to him, the price cuts are good for the masses, but marketers pay the price.
“On the side of the masses, Nigerians are better for it. People are getting cheaper fuel now, which is good. That’s the beauty of deregulation that we are talking about. There’s nothing anybody can do about it. But marketers are the ones bearing the losses, seriously.
Asked if there is any way to reduce the losses, he replied, “On the part of marketers, what we can do is just to try as much as possible to try and sell. We will reduce prices to a level that, at least, our losses will not be too much. So, you will be able to get rid of your old stock before you go to the market to buy at the new rate and start selling at the new rate.
Recall that the Dangote Refinery resumed price cuts after the Federal Government directed that the naira-for-crude deal should continue indefinitely.
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