Motorists bemoan continuous fuel price hike in Enugu

Tue, Feb 13, 2018 | By publisher


Oil & Gas

MOTORISTS, including commercial buses and tricycles, have decried the continuous sale of Petroleum Motor Spirit by Independent Marketers in Enugu between N180 and N190 per litre.

Correspondents of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) monitoring the situation in Enugu report that all the major markets in the metropolis displayed the “no fuel sign”.

NAN, however, reports that only the NNPC Mega Station dispensed fuel at N143 per liter with motorists spending the whole day on the queue to buy the product.

NAN observes that security operatives and touts collect between N500 and N1000 at NNPC Mega Station from motorists and move them in through a space reserved for members of the armed forces.

The manager of the NNPC mega station, Mr Obi Adiogu, said that the station sells at government approved price of N143 per liter.

According to him, we source our product direct from depot.

At Total and Oando petrol stations on Ogui Rd and Zik Avenue, their managers, Messrs Kingsley Ndu and Ebere Agazie, said that they sourced the product from their companies either from Lagos or Port-Harcourt.

However, some independent marketers told NAN that they dispensed the product according to the price sold to them by major dealers.

Some of the managers told NAN that they bought the product from major markets between N172 and N176 per litre and sell to buyers at N180 or N190 per litre depending on the landing cost.

“We sell as we buy because the price is not always stable; we sometimes buy the product at N172 per litre or at the rate of N176 per litre.

“What we sell depends on the price we buy the product, if we buy at the rate of N174, we may sell to buyers at N185,” the manger, who pleaded anonymous, said.

Mr Elias Adiado, the manager of Ceckon oil on Ogui Road, said that they buy from major dealers at higher prices and sell at N180 per liter to recover the landing cost and a little profit.

NAN reports that the hawkers also known as black marketers have also hiked their prices to between N250 and N270 per liter and sell at night.

Mr idris Ali, a black market petrol seller on Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway, said that he sold the product at N250 per liter because he bought at N185 per litre.

Ali said that he also transported the product, adding that his gain was N20 on each liter.

Another black marketer, Mr Uche Egwu, said he bought the product at N180 and sell at N220 per litre.

A tricycle rider, Mr Okwy Uka, told NAN that they have been operating at a loss since the scarcity began.

He said that in December when the price of petrol was N230, they hiked the fare from N50 to N80 per drop to meet running cost, but the patronage declined.

“When the price came down to N180 we quickly reverted to N50 and had been running at a loss.

A commercial driver, Chieze Nwaedia, corroborated the views of tricycle operators, saying the price of fuel had not been helpful to them at all.

“We buy at the rate of N180/185 per litre, but have not increased transport fares even when you increase, passengers would complain. In fact, we are losing,” Nwaedia said. (NAN)

– Feb.  13, 2018 @ 18:95 GMT |

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