Last week, there were indications from the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA)that the price of Premium Motor Spirit (Petrol)might increase to N88 per litre at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) stations and N88.50 in other stations.
However, according to The Guardian, the Federal Government has not increased the prices of petrol. It remains at the regulated prices of N86 at NNPC filling stations and N86.50 at order outlets. Also, fuel subsidyhas not been re-introduced by the FG.
It was discovered that that the fuel crisis may have been instigated by petroleum marketers to frustrate supplies of petrol at depots and filling stations in order to get a higher import allocation from the Federal Government and ensure that it cancels its price modulation mechanism and resumes subsidy payment.
It was revealed that some marketers said it may not be easy to eliminate the fuel scarcity as promised by the Minister of State for Petroleum, IbeKachikwu, as it may take about two to three more weeks to get fuel into the country’s depots.
Over the weekend, most petrol stations in Lagos shut closed while the few dispensing the product were selling at between N130 and N200 per litre.
