Major Energies Marketers Association of Nigeria says the exact landing cost of Premium Motor Spirit, known as petrol, and foreign exchange fluctuations, is why its members stopped importing the product.
Clement Isong, the Executive Secretary of MEMAN, disclosed this at a webinar for media practitioners on Thursday.
He stated that it is difficult to arrive at the exact landing cost of fuel, making it difficult to fix the appropriate price of the product.
“The market and consumers are not immune to government policy that allows Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) continuous charges in dollars,” he said.
Isong also informed that though marketers receive products from Nigerian National Petroleum Company, NNPC Limited, retail, products offload is transacted in dollars, all of which push up the pump price.
In July 2023, Emadeb Energy Services Limited imported about 27 million litres of petrol into the country for the first time after subsidy removal.
OsunDailyNG recalls fuel price jumped to N600 to 670 per litre after subsidies were removed from the product last year.
However, despite the rise in the exchange rate from N750 per USD in June to N1,602.17 on Thursday, the pump price of fuel had remained between N600 and 670, indicating a new petrol subsidy regime.
Consequently, the International Monetary Fund said the country’s currency fuel and electricity subsidies might gulp $7 trillion in 2024.
