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Dangote deal: Oil marketers promise reduced fuel prices
By Francesca Hangeior.
Oil marketers have assured that Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) prices will drop once they start directly lifting products from the Dangote Refinery.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) is the sole entity lifting products from the refinery, which led to a significant surge in petrol prices.
Prices in Lagos have skyrocketed to ₦950 per litre, with consumers in northern areas paying up to ₦1,000 per litre.
The sharp increase has placed an additional strain on businesses and households already dealing with rising inflation.
However, in a move expected to provide relief to Nigerians facing soaring petrol prices, the Spokesperson for the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Chinedu Ukadike, yesterday, provided an optimistic outlook during an interview on National Television, monitored by The Nation.
He confirmed that discussions between marketers and the Dangote Refinery for direct product lifting are underway, and expressed confidence that prices will drop once these arrangements are finalised.
Ukadike emphasised the critical role independent marketers could play in stabilising petrol prices across the country.
“It is just very simple. It shows that the liberalisation of the market is on the course because there is no way Dangote refinery will be producing petrol in Nigeria without considering IPMAN as one of its strategic stakeholders,” he remarked.
Highlighting IPMAN’s extensive network of filling stations, which account for approximately 85 percent of the country’s distribution outlets, Ukadike suggested the involvement of independent marketers in product lifting from the refinery could resolve current pricing disparities.
He said: “We were even thinking that one of his first points of call was to discuss with IPMAN and not NNPCL because we can distribute every single drop of products produced by Dangote Refinery.”
He noted that competition and independence in sourcing products would drive down petrol prices, saying, “Immediately after we discuss and commence direct lifting of product from Dangote, the issue of pricing and differential in pricing will be gone. What we are seeing here is price disparity. But if IPMAN becomes independent, prices will drop.”
Drawing from the successful reduction in diesel (AGO) prices when independent marketers began sourcing directly from Dangote, Ukadike expressed optimism for a similar outcome with petrol.
“Dangote also opened up to IPMAN when he started producing AGO, diesel. We entered the market and started buying it, and prices of AGO came down from N1,600 to between N1,000 to N1,100,” he explained.
He concluded by calling for an inclusive market, noting, “This is a deregulated economy, and every stakeholder and player should be given equal opportunity.”
Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan’s family residence in Kogi was reportedy invaded by gunmen around 1 a.m. on Tuesday, April 16, leaving damaged windows but no injuries.
The incident happened at her hometown residence in Obeiba-Ihima, located in Okehi Local Government Area of Kogi State.
Sources familiar with the event said the attackers arrived around 1:00 a.m. Armed with cutlasses and guns, they damaged parts of the building, smashing windows and causing panic in the area. At least three men were involved in the attack.
Senator Natasha’s Chief Security Officer, Yakubu Ovanja, quickly informed the appropriate security agencies.
In response, officers from the Okehi Police Division rushed to the scene.
Although nobody was hurt and no suspects have been arrested yet, security officials recorded the extent of the damage and launched a preliminary investigation.
The reason behind the attack is still unknown, and as of now, Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan has not released any official statement. She represents Kogi Central in the Senate and is known as a vocal figure in Nigerian politics.
According to Zagazola Makama, police are still trying to figure out what motivated the attackers and are working to find those responsible.
The communities came under simultaneous attacks just a day after the killing of 11 persons at Otobi Community also in Otukpo LGA.
Benue has in the past decade experienced incessant attacks.
Suspected herdsmen have again stepped up violent attacks as no fewer than three communities in the Otukpo Local Government Area (LGA) of Benue State were attacked on Wednesday.
The communities affected during the fresh attacks include Emichi, Odudaje, and Okpamaju all in Otukpo where five persons were killed in February. The communities came under simultaneous attacks just a day after the killing of 11 persons at Otobi Community also in Otukpo LGA.
Local sources confirm that several people may have been feared dead again in the fresh attack.
Wednesday’s attack came hours after Governor Hyacinth Alia confirmed the arrest of three suspected herders in connection with the invasion of Otobi village on Tuesday night.
When contacted, Otukpo LGA Chairman, Maxwell Ogiri, confirmed the attack on the three communities, saying that the attackers stormed the communities at the time when the Commissioner of Police was still at the Ochidoma Palace over the previous day’s attack on Otobi.
He added that three people sustained injury in the attacks on the three communities, leading to women and children abandoning the communities for fear of being killed.
“Only young men were in the communities when the attackers arrived. The prompt response from combined security operatives made the attackers flee and none of them were arrested,” Ogiri stated.
The police spokesperson in the state, Sewuese Anene, was yet to confirm details of the attacks on the three communities.
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