[UPDATED] Nigerians face biggest fuel price hike amid COVID-19

Fuel stations in Nigeria may start adjusting their pump prices soon following the release of a new pricing template by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency.

Markets Reporters had earlier reported that Nigerians hoping that petrol price would not be increased this month on the back of the recent assurance from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation may be disappointed soon.

The PPPRA, an agency of the Federal Government, released the pricing template on Friday which showed that the petrol price is expected to increase by at least 30 percent increase this month.

The expected hike in petrol price is the biggest since the Nigerian government started adjusting prices last year after the removal of subsidy.

The Federal Government removed petrol subsidy in March 2020 after reducing the pump price of petrol to N125 per litre from N145 on the back of the sharp drop in crude oil prices. The price reduction lasted till June.

Nigerians saw the first increase in petrol price in July last year after subsidy removal. It rose from N121.50–N123.50 per litre in June to N140.80-N143.80 in July; N148-N150 in August; N158-N162 in September and N163-N168 in November.

The PPPRA, in its new template, put the expected landing cost of imported petrol at N189.61 per litre and the ex-depot price at N206.42 per litre. The ex-depot price is the price at which marketers buy the product at depots.

The retail price (pump price) is expected to range between N209.61 and N212.61 per litre, according to the template.

Petrol is currently being sold at between N162 and N165 per litre in most filling stations in Lagos, the country’s commercial capital.

The NNPC, which has been the sole importer of petrol into the country in recent years, had recently ruled out any increment in the ex-depot price of product in March, against the backdrop of speculations of an imminent increase in the price.

A statement by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Dr Kennie Obateru, had said the corporation was not contemplating any raise in the price of petrol in March in order not to jeopardise ongoing engagements with organised labour and other stakeholders on an acceptable framework that would not expose the ordinary Nigerian to any hardship.