Against the grain of public
perception that once prices of
products go up, they never come
down, the pump price of premium
motor spirit, PMS, popularly known
as petrol, has not only crashed in
some petrol filling stations, it has
gone below the official amount
fixed.
In some of the stations, petrol now
goes for N95 per litre instead of the
office price of N97 fixed by the
Petroleum Products Pricing
Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, in
January 2012.
The price had been raised from N67
to N140 on January, 2012, a move
which took Nigerians unawares,
sparking widespread outrage.
When government would not bow to
demands from labour and civil
society organisations, there was a
mass action described by some as
the Nigerian Spring after the revolt
going on at the time in some Arab
nations.
The "Nigerian Spring" grounded
business and government activities
around the country for about two
weeks before government reluctantly
reduced the pump price from N140
to the current N97.
Although some economists say the
price could drop further even to
N50, the government had been
saying it still needed to rise to
encourage private investors whose
investment in the building of
refineries would bring about the
desired reduction.
But THISDAY's investigation show
that some petrol stations such as
Ismah Investment Ltd. in Kwali and
Planet in Bako town close to
Gwagwalada on the outskirts of the
Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, have
reduced their pump price by N2 to
N95 per litre.
According to an official of Planet
Petroleum who said he was running
the business jointly with his brother
but preferred not to be named, they
fixed that price based on what they
bought from marketers in Lagos and
Port Harcourt.
He said they first sold for N96 when
they procured the product at a
slightly higher rate. However, when
the depot price dropped, they had
to cut theirs to N95 for which it had
been selling for the past two
months, he told THISDAY.
"Here we check the prevailing
market prices to fix our own," he
said. "Even if it moves down by just
N1, we will adjust our price
accordingly."
He noted that even the Petroleum
Products Marketing Company, PPMC,
the marketing arm of the Nigerian
National Petroleum Company, NNPC,
still sold for N97. The marketer
however said DPK or kerosene was
not affected by the price slash
because it didn't make economic
sense after buying a litre for N120 in
Warri and spending N7 on
transportation.
At Ismah filling station, an official,
Jubril Iliyasu,said their decision to
sell a litre of PMS at N95 was
informed by a desire not to exploit
the buyers.
perception that once prices of
products go up, they never come
down, the pump price of premium
motor spirit, PMS, popularly known
as petrol, has not only crashed in
some petrol filling stations, it has
gone below the official amount
fixed.
In some of the stations, petrol now
goes for N95 per litre instead of the
office price of N97 fixed by the
Petroleum Products Pricing
Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, in
January 2012.
The price had been raised from N67
to N140 on January, 2012, a move
which took Nigerians unawares,
sparking widespread outrage.
When government would not bow to
demands from labour and civil
society organisations, there was a
mass action described by some as
the Nigerian Spring after the revolt
going on at the time in some Arab
nations.
The "Nigerian Spring" grounded
business and government activities
around the country for about two
weeks before government reluctantly
reduced the pump price from N140
to the current N97.
Although some economists say the
price could drop further even to
N50, the government had been
saying it still needed to rise to
encourage private investors whose
investment in the building of
refineries would bring about the
desired reduction.
But THISDAY's investigation show
that some petrol stations such as
Ismah Investment Ltd. in Kwali and
Planet in Bako town close to
Gwagwalada on the outskirts of the
Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, have
reduced their pump price by N2 to
N95 per litre.
According to an official of Planet
Petroleum who said he was running
the business jointly with his brother
but preferred not to be named, they
fixed that price based on what they
bought from marketers in Lagos and
Port Harcourt.
He said they first sold for N96 when
they procured the product at a
slightly higher rate. However, when
the depot price dropped, they had
to cut theirs to N95 for which it had
been selling for the past two
months, he told THISDAY.
"Here we check the prevailing
market prices to fix our own," he
said. "Even if it moves down by just
N1, we will adjust our price
accordingly."
He noted that even the Petroleum
Products Marketing Company, PPMC,
the marketing arm of the Nigerian
National Petroleum Company, NNPC,
still sold for N97. The marketer
however said DPK or kerosene was
not affected by the price slash
because it didn't make economic
sense after buying a litre for N120 in
Warri and spending N7 on
transportation.
At Ismah filling station, an official,
Jubril Iliyasu,said their decision to
sell a litre of PMS at N95 was
informed by a desire not to exploit
the buyers.
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