THE federal government has increased the ex-depot price of petrol or premium motor spirit (PMS), to N151.56k. The price increase came to public notice in an internal memo by the Ibadan, Oyo State depot of the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC), a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), said the new price regime commenced on Tuesday, September 2, 2020.
The internal memo, which has gone viral on social media and emanated from the Lead, Sales, Ibadan Depot, to all stakeholders is signed by the Ibadan Depot Manager, D. O. Abalaka.
The memo, referenced PPMC/IB/LS/020 states: “Please be informed that a new product price adjustment has been effected on our payment platform.
“To this end, the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) is now one hundred and fifty-one naira, fifty-six kobo (N151.56k) per litre.
“This takes effect from September 2, 2020.”
Ex-depot price, National Record gathered, is the price at which the petroleum products are sold petroleum retail dealers at the depots. While the new directive is silent on the pump price of petrol, markets in retail outlets in filling stations may have adjusted the pump price of petrol to reflect the new price regime.
Our correspondents had as at press time not confirmed any increase of petro price by any filling station in Abuja, they were however told it was just a matter of time. Pump prices are expected to rise from the current regime of N148.50 to between N158 to N160.
The new price increase is coming following federal government’s full throttle deregulation of the downstream sector of the petroleum industry, which has been on one way or the other over the past 30 years.
The deregulation policy which has been one of the major points of contestation and street protests by trade unions led by the NLC against successive governments still remains a major point of disagreement between organized labour and its allies in the civil society.
At the moment, there is no comment or statement from the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), or the NNPC or President Buhari who doubles as the Minister of Petroleum Resources.
