Many marketers in Abuja and Lagos have adjusted the pump price of petrol to N185 per litre despite repeated denial by the federal government, Peoples Gazette reports.
The adjusted price is coming after the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) reiterated that the regulated N165 pump price for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, is no longer realistic.
Chairman, MOMAN Olumide Adeosun, disclosed this on Wednesday during a virtual consumer protection workshop for Oil Marketers by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission(FCCPC).
Reacting to the lingering fuel scarcity across the country, Adeosun blamed the situation on the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which had disrupted global energy supply distribution.
According to Adeosun, the current situation is similar to the COVID-19 pandemic era, with some countries moving to halt the exportation of petrol in favour of their national energy securities.
The MOMAN Chairman maintained that it would be difficult to enforce any price control mechanism on marketers who had to adjust their prices slightly based on how much they bought products from the depots.
He said the way forward was a phased deregulation of PMS by the Federal Government to reduce the shock on consumers.
Recall that the federal government had, on June 21, 2022, insisted that the pump price of petrol should be maintained at N165 per litre as stipulated in the petroleum products pricing template.
Yet the prices have only remained frozen in Lagos and Abuja metropolis, while marketers sell at higher prices in the outskirts and hinterlands.
The Buhari regime earmarked N4 trillion for fuel subsidy in the 2022 revised medium-term expenditure framework.