• Product raised by N11 per litre
• NNPC accuses operators of breaching pact

There was disquiet yesterday over the hike in the price of petrol.

Rejecting the increase, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) accused depot owners of a breach of agreement by raising the price by N11 per litre at their facilities.

Following the increase, the depot price of the product has gone up from N148 per litre to N159.

The arbitrary hike represents 6.75 per cent in the price of the product at the depots.

Independent Petroleum Marketers Association (IPMAN) National Vice President Abubakar Maigandi confirmed to our correspondent in Abuja on the telephone that marketers were lifting the product at N159 from private depots in Calabar and Port Harcourt.

He said: “Our members are lifting the product at Calabar and Port Harcourt at N158 andN159 per litre.”

Maigandi said the development has aggravated the recent petrol scarcity in the country.

AsThe Nationmonitored the sale of petrol in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) from Monday to Wednesday, besides NNPC, which sold it for N162, other retail outlets sold the product for N165/litre.

The Federal Government regulated dealer price ranges from N162 to N165/ litre.

While most of the petrol stations were not opened to customers, black-marketers sold it at N300 per litre with 10 litre Jerry cans selling for N3,000 on Karu-Kurudu road.

A stable petrol market has been elusive sinceThe Nationpublication of possible fuel scarcity on November 1, 2021.

Maigandi had disclosed that private depots had raised the price from N148 per litre to N157 per litre.

(Adopted from The Nation)