FG revises fuel pump price to 123.50/litre

• …MOMAN, IPMAN fault revised pump price

The Federal Government on Tuesday, through the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), announced a new reduction in fuel pump price from N125 per litre to 123.50 per litre.

Abdulkadir Saidu, the Executive Secretary of the agency, who announced the new pump price, said all retail outlets should start selling at the new price effective from Wednesday.

Tuesday’s adjustment came less than two weeks after the government revised downward the pump price from N145 to N125, following the declining crude oil prices in the international market associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The recent downward review in fuel pump price is based on the reduced landing cost of petrol into the country

Fuel marketers in the country may be heading for a showdown with the Federal Government over the new pump price of petroleum which was slashed from N125 a litre to N123.50 on Wednesday.

Speaking with Daily Trust on phone on Wednesday, Executive Secretary of Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) Clement Isiong, said their members were taken aback when government announced the new price of N123.5k.

Isiong said marketers had yet to recover from the sudden reduction from N145 to N125 two weeks ago when the latest reduction hit them.

“We are still confused, sincerely. We need good clarification from the government on why they took this decision to suddenly reduce to N123.5 when our members have stocked the products to sell at N125’’, he said.

He said the FG’s inconsistency was making the business of fuel marketing uninteresting to Nigerian business men and women, warning that there could be serious fuel hoarding which could cause scarcity of the product nationwide.

“The market is becoming unpredictable and our members are losing money. We cannot continue like this. If this continues, there could be scarcity’’, he said.

In the same vein, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association (IPMAN), Kano Chapter on Wednesday said its members would not comply with the new pump price adjustment until the old stock is exhausted.

Addressing journalists in Kano, IPMAN Kano chairman, Bashir Ahmad Danmallam, disclosed that IPMAN had directed members to continue to sell fuel at N125 per litre until “the last drop of old stock is exhausted, no one will stock in debt to dispense at N123.50”.

Danmallam accused the management of the PPPRA of trying to sabotage government’s efforts to ensure sustained fuel supply and distribution nationwide through some policies that could plunge the sector into crisis.

He explained: “The last time the Federal Government reduced the pump price of the product from N145 per litre to N125 per litre, our members nationwide lost over N5.5 billion as a result of the sudden reduction.

“We called on government to compensate or supports for our members who are already in huge loss due to the sudden reduction in fuel pump price but nothing was given to us.

“But to our surprise, the private depots owners were paid but none of our members was supported to reduce the losses we incurred. This time around we will not sell our products until the old stocks are exhausted”, the marketer added.