IPMAN rejects plans to raise gasoline prices to N700 per liter. Plans to raise the price of gasoline to N700 per liter have been refuted by...
IPMAN rejects plans to raise gasoline prices to N700 per liter.
Plans to raise the price of gasoline to N700 per liter have been refuted by the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) and the Association of Distributors and Transporters of Petroleum Products (ADITOP).
In an interview conducted in Abuja on Saturday, July 1, 2023, the associations dismissed rumors of an alleged hike in pump prices as conjecture.
It said that market forces determined fuel prices and that given the current strong exchange rate, the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as gasoline, could rise at the pump.
The Naira lost 0.82 percent of its value compared to the N763 it had previously swapped for the dollar before the Eid al-Kabir vacation, which started on June 28.
Once independent marketers begin importing the products in July, some oil marketers anticipated that gasoline prices might rise above N700 per liter in the northern area and to roughly N600 in Lagos.
Their forecasts were based on the high exchange rate, the cost of petroleum, and the landing fee at the time.
As lines of drivers formed at certain gas stations in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) at the start of the weekend, the tendency led to anxiety and panic buying.
Additionally, NAN said that retail locations of NNPCL and other companies continued to dispense fuel for between N540 and N542 per liter.
Chinedu Okorokwo, the president of IPMAN, dismissed the claims of a rise in fuel prices beginning on July 1 as "mere speculation and should not be given light."
"The high dollar rate would only be the cause of the increase in pump price, which could affect the importation of petroleum products."
He said that because of deregulation, importers could now conduct business on the oil market, but they had to first obtain a license from the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).
The prediction was also linked by Alhaji Lawan Dan-Zaki, president of ADITOP, to the current high exchange rate, and he said that importers would only sell in accordance with the prices realized on the global market.
He advised Nigerians to have patience, noting that market forces would lead PMS prices to vary until they reached a stable level.
Five businesses, according to Dan-Zaki, have been granted licenses by the NMDPRA to import fuel.
"As of right now, no shipment has a significant cost; marketers are just guessing. The importers are also quite intelligent, but all they want is for the government to step in and take them into account when setting exchange rates and pricing.
"The pump price of fuel will come down as time goes on when competition starts because it is only market competition that will bring the price down," he stated.
According to him, because of the deregulation, the government must let supply and demand in the market determine the price.
Even though the government had given marketers permission to import fuel, Dan-Zaki claimed that the market was being affected by the exchange rate and the Naira's battle to hold its value against the US dollar.
"The Central Bank of Nigeria's (CBN) previous official exchange rate is no longer feasible.
In order to decide how much to sell to marketers and other customers, an importer must purchase the commodity at a black-market price.
The ADITOP president asserted, "There is no way a marketer will buy for N700 and still sell at the same price if he imports at N700 per dollar.
In order to stop importation and prevent increases in fuel prices in the nation, he encouraged the Federal Government to make sure that domestic refineries, notably Dangote's, quickly started operations.
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