The Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) has suggested that the recent fuel price hike may be due to challenges in securing product supply. PETROAN President, Billy Gillis-Harris, explained this during an interview.
"What I can tell you is, once there is difficulty in landing products by NNPCL, and when the burden becomes too overwhelming for them to manage, they will inevitably pass some of that load on," Gillis-Harris said. "I think that’s what has happened."
On Wednesday, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) increased the pump price of petrol at its retail outlets in Lagos and Abuja. In Lagos, the price per litre jumped to ₦998 from ₦855, while in Abuja, it surged to ₦1,030 from ₦897.
This sudden increase triggered a domino effect, with other filling stations across Lagos raising their prices to as high as ₦1,050 per litre.
The latest hike comes just a month after NNPCL raised the price of petrol from ₦568 to ₦855 per litre, citing heavy debts owed to fuel suppliers. The company had implemented a roughly 40% price increase in an effort to stabilize its finances.
