Nigeria’s oil marketers set to unveil new fuel prices as transportation costs rise
Oil marketers in Nigeria have indicated that the price of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, could again rise between N680/litre and N720/litre in the coming weeks should the country’s currency continue its fall against the dollar.
They also declared that dealers seeking to import the highly needed commodity were being forced to suspend the move as a result of the scarcity of foreign exchange to import petrol.
The warning came barely one week after the local currency crossed the N900/dollar ceiling, with the naira selling at over 945/dollar at the parallel market on Friday.
Leaders of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, and the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria said there was a need for the Federal Government to intervene to address the crisis.
Meanwhile, the cost of transportation has climbed to its highest level in more than five decades after the Nigerian government ended the expensive subsidy on petrol.
The National Bureau of Statistics announced that the average cost of bus transportation within Nigerian cities rose from N649.59 in May 2023 to N1,285.41 in June 2023 as the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit surged across the country.
This means that the cost of intra-city bus transportation rose by 98 per cent within one month.
On a year-on-year basis, the NBS said bus fares rose by 120.63 per cent from N582.61 paid by commuters in June 2022.
The price of food, food items, and services has also skyrocketed.
The Presiden Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led government has promised to cushion the effect of rising inflation with palliatives.
