Abuja residents may soon start to experience fuel scarcity. This is because petrol transporters have declined to take their products to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), citing poor road conditions as among the reasons.
Members of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), and Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMA), confirmed this development.
According to them, even though the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) assured Nigerians that there is enough petrol to go around, members of the National Association of Road Transport Operators (NARTO) are not willing to take petrol to the capital city.
“As of Tuesday, marketers were ready to pay as much as N1.2 million to take products to Abuja, but no driver was ready to put their lives and tankers on the line. There is enough product but drivers are unwilling to go there,” a source with DAPPMAN was quoted as saying.
Also citing the rising costs of freight rates, the source added that “when the price of petrol was increased last month, the dollar was between N600 to N620, but it is now N700. The cost of hiring a vessel is now $50,000 per day, including NNPC trucks. It costs more than $50,000 per day to take products to states like Calabar, and we still pay for vessels in dollars.”
It would be recalled that on Tuesday, July 19, 2022, the NNPC notified members of the public that petrol would no longer sell at N165 per litre, which was the officially approved price.
According to the state-owned oil corporation, due to several factors, the commodity would henceforth sell differently in various parts of Nigeria.
So, while it was expected to sell at N179 per litre in the northcentral region, filling stations in Abuja were directed to sell at N174.
More so, in what appeared to be the highest in the adjustment, petrol would now sell for N184 per litre in the northwest and N189 in the northeast.
