The National Public Relations Officer of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Yakubu Suleiman has stated that despite a sudden surge in petrol prices, Nigeria still has the lowest petrol cost among African countries.
During a discussion with ARISE TV about the recent hike in the price of Premium Motor Spirit, also known as petrol, Suleiman pointed out the role of the dollar cost in determining petrol prices.
He further clarified that the increase in petrol prices is due to the dollar’s cost since petroleum products are imported into Nigeria using dollars.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Commission Limited (NNPCL) and other oil marketers on Tuesday raised the price of petrol from about N537/litre to (between) N617 and N630/litre, a development that triggered widespread anger across the country.
Speaking on the development he said, “The rise in price was caused, as usual, by the market forces. The market now determines prices. And secondly because of the dollar. You know the higher the crude oil price, the product price locally will also be higher. So at the time the crude oil comes down, the product will also come down.
“To be frank, it’s just speculation that people are thinking marketers are happy with the new price. If any marketer would tell you that he’s happy with the new price, he just wants to deceive you.
“When you import petrol from abroad to Nigeria as of today, it’ll arrive in Nigeria at the price of N565. So when you think of it, yes, marketers are trying. But I still want to reiterate to Nigerians that we need their understanding that a further rise in price is what we don’t pray for. Let’s join hands together and pray so that we have a regime in which products will be cheaper than what we have now.
“And also compared to other African countries, we still have the cheapest petrol price. But we don’t pray that the price will be higher than we currently have. We don’t pray for that.”
