The Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) has challenged Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote to disclose the price of his Premium Motor Spirit also known as petrol by his Refinery.
Nigerians had hoped that the takeoff of the Dangote Refinery would reduce the rising price of the product in Nigeria, but that has not been the case since the indigenous refinery started selling petrol in the country.
The company has left the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to play the role of middleman, buying from them and the selling to other retailers.
Speaking on Channels Television’s breakfast programme The Morning Brief on Thursday, PETROAN president, Billy Gillis-Harris, said it is high time Dangote opened up space of communication with retailers and other stakeholders.
“As I speak to you this morning I don’t know what the Dangote price is all about. At this point in Dangote’s campaign into Nigeria, retail outlet owners like us should be able to know this is how much Dangote is willing to sell to us and we have kept that shrouded in secrecy up until now,” Gillis-Harris said.
“NNPC came out and gave us a price template, that also did not tell us what is the exact price input from Dangote. So, we would encourage Dangote to open up space of communication, talk with all the stakeholders, get valuable inputs from everybody because it is a business that involves Nigerians, retail outlet owners like us, marketers and different consumers.
“So, there should be some level of business transparency even if it is a private business which we are so proud of that we have such facility operating in Nigeria, but we need to start to see the works.”
The NNPCL on Wednesday increased the pump price of petrol in Lagos and Abuja. NNPCL outlets in Lagos sold a litre of petrol for ₦998 which is ₦150 higher than the initial price of ₦855 as observed by Channels Television.
In the nation’s capital of Abuja, the situation was similar, with the pump price of a litre of the commodity went to ₦1,030 from ₦897.
In his reaction to the latest increase in petrol price, the PETROAN president linked it to increase in the “difficulty in landing products.”
“What I can tell you is, once there is difficulty in landing products by NNPCL and the size of shock absorbing that they (NNPCL) can do become overwhelming, they will certainly shed some of the loads,” he said.
The PETROAN boss maintained that the prices of the commodity will be determined by market forces.
