Why marketers are not selling petrol at N87

Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke on Sunday night announced the reduction without prior meeting or consultation with marketers.

Many of the marketers are fuming because a lot of their stock landed in Nigeria, at prices higher than the new pump price.

But on Monday, government officials met with the marketers to work things out.

‘Many marketers are seething with anger as to who will bear the losses they are going to incur under the new price regime”, said a source close to the marketers.

The reduction of the price is igniting little salutary effect among Nigerians, as government comes under pressure to cut the price further.

Trade union believed the Jonathan administration is still short-changing Nigerians, against the backdrop of the global crude price plunge.

The main opposition accused the government of “tokenism” before the February 14 elections, asking that the price of petrol as well as diesel and kerosene should be slashed further.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) said in a statement on Monday that the new price of petrol was “mere tokenism at a time the price of crude oil has crashed by about 60 percent”.

Party spokesman Lai Mohammed said the government should immediately cut the price of petrol to 70 naira a litre and diesel and kerosene to no more than 90 naira.

Mohammed charged that state corruption was to blame for the size of Sunday’s reduction, saying the government was unwilling to reduce the price further as it would hit its so-called “commissions”.

The plunge in crude prices to below $50 a barrel has slashed the Nigerian government’s revenue, forcing it to revise its 2015 budget forecast.

Africa’s leading economy based on gross domestic product derives 70 percent of government revenue and 90 percent of foreign exchange earnings from crude sales.

Nigeria currently produces 1.75 million barrels of crude a day, according to OPEC, but imports most of its refined petroleum products, which the government subsidises to keep prices low.

A devaluation of the currency against the US dollar has also hiked the cost of imports, with a knock-on effect on the price of imported goods and services to consumers.

Peter Ozo-Eson, general-secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress workers’ union, echoed calls for further reductions at the pump.

“If we consider all the variables in determining petrol prices, Nigerians are still being short-changed,” he told AFP.

“The 10-naira drop is not enough. It should have been 30 percent or even more. If you check other oil-producing nations, you will notice that the drop is at least one-thirds.”