Nigeria Still Has Cheapest Fuel Price In Africa – IPMAN

• The price of petrol in Nigeria has increased significantly in recent weeks
• The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has blamed the increase on the cost of dollars
• IPMAN has also said that Nigeria still has the cheapest petrol price among African countries

Yakubu Suleiman, National Public Relations Officer of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), stated that despite the sudden increase in the pump price of petrol in Nigeria, the country still has the lowest price of the product among African countries.

He said this during an interview with ARISE TV about the recent increase in the price of Premium Motor Spirit, also known as petrol.

Suleiman also blamed the sudden increase in petrol pump prices on the cost of dollars.

He explained that petroleum products are imported into Nigeria using dollars, which is why the price has risen.

He said;

The rise in price was caused, as usual, by the market forces. 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 at today, it’ll arrive in Nigeria at the 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.

On Tuesday, the Nigerian National Petroleum Commission Limited (NNPCL) and other oil marketers raised the price of petrol from about N537/litre to (between) N617 and N630/litre. This development triggered widespread anger across the country.