Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise called petrol or fuel, now sells for N600 per litre in Okitipupa, Ondo State. Investigations by Saturday Telegraph on Friday revealed that a litre of petrol is sold by private marketers for between N450 and N470 in Ore; N400 in Akure, N360 and N365 in Ibadan; and between N300 and N350 in some parts of Lagos.

However, it is sold for N185 in petrol stations owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) in Lagos but there are very long queues as anxious petrol users struggle to buy the product.

The Chairman of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), NNPC Depot, Ore, Western Zone, Engineer Shina Amoo, said the situation has become alarming, adding that many Nigerians have been complaining bitterly of the resultant hardship. He stated that they now buy petrol from private depot owners between N288 and N300 per litre and will load the product after two weeks of payment.

He called on the federal government and the NNPCL to massively import petrol and ensure good distribution, involving independent marketers, who, he said, have great distribution networks and were in every part of the country. Amoo appealed to NNPCL to ensure that independent marketers load at the official price, adding that “NNPCL should engage in massive importation of PMS and consider good distribution pattern.

"Independent marketers are in the nooks and crannies of this country. They should let us get our volume officially. Even if they give an official volume say 500 independent marketers, this queue will go down in every location immediately.

“They give it to private depot owners who will not resale at high prices and the queues continue and scarcity continues. Private depot owners sell to us at N290, N288 and N300 from the depot. Can you imagine? That is what we are facing. You will pay today and you will load in two weeks’ time and not immediately. “We have a government in place. If they are sincere about our interest and the interest of the masses, they should do something in the shortest time. "Already people are complaining bitterly that there is no food and the fuel scarcity and rising cost of pump prices are adding salt to injury with regard to the situation.

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