Dangote Refinery and Nigerian petroleum product marketers are at odds over the cause of the recent drop in petrol prices in the country.
Daily Post reports that Nigerian filling stations dropped fuel prices in Abuja to between N940 and N945 per litr, down from N945 and N955.
The drop in petrol price came at a time the federal government announced the suspension of its planned 15 per cent import duty on petrol and diesel to encourage local production.
In an exclusive interview with Daily Post, the spokesperson of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Chinedu Ukadike, linked the latest PMS price drop to the policy reversal.
He explained that that proposed 15 per cent import tariff would have led to indirect inflation and an increase in petroleum pump prices.
According to him, the 15 per cent import duty on petrol is an affront against the forces of demand and supply in a deregulated petroleum downstream sector.
“You understand me that if the 15 per cent import duty on petrol and diesel was implemented, that is an indirect inflation, an increase in pump price on petroleum products.
“There is no way in a deregulated economy where you will not allow the forces of demand and supply to control the market.
“So now that the federal government had looked deeply at the 15 per cent tariff, it was suspended for the reason that this was going to kind of trigger inflation.
“So, we, the independent marketers, are happy that our voices were heard.
“And this will also make the competition healthier and ensure the total compliance of the PIA.
“That is why you see the prices going down.
“And it will go down more because the crude oil in the international market is going down,” he told Daily Post.
However, Dangote Refinery, in a statement released on its X account, attributed the recent petrol price drop to its gantry price cut this month.
The 650,000 barrel-per-day refinery clarified that the reduction in petrol is not linked to the suspension of the 15 per cent import duty.
Daily Post reports that the 15 per cent import tariff would have placed Dangote Refinery at an advantageous position in the market at the expense of higher petrol prices for Nigerians.
