The Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) has announced that Nigerians should anticipate a reduction in the pump price of petrol this week.
Last week, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited and the much-talked-about Dangote Refinery reduced the ex-depot price of petrol to ₦899 per litre in Lagos. This announcement was supposed to signal relief for consumers, So far, the pump price at many filling stations has refused to budge.
Billy Gilly-Harry, the president of PETROAN, assured Nigerians on a Channels Television program that the reduction would reflect in the market soon—emphasis on “soon.”
According to him, filling stations will begin to adjust their prices once they start loading the new stock at the revised rate. But here’s the funny thing, many stations are still sitting on old stock purchased at higher prices.
Whenever there’s a hint of price reduction, we’re reminded that stations must first sell off their more expensive old stock. It’s like the suffering is always prepaid. Gilly-Harry explained that some stations purchased petrol at ₦970 per litre and incurred additional costs from transportation and logistics, which means they’re in no rush to lower prices and incur losses. So, while we wait for them to “clear their shelves,” Nigerians continue to bear the brunt of inflated prices.
He also applauded certain PETROAN members in Abuja for their supposed goodwill in reducing prices below ₦1,000 even before this new announcement. Are we supposed to cheer for stations charging “just below ₦1,000” for a litre of petrol? where this is considered a win?
Until then, the average citizen must continue to make impossible choices, balancing limited resources against ever-rising costs of living. As always, the question on everyone lips is, when will Nigeria’s oil wealth translate into meaningful benefits for its people? That’s a question we don’t know the answer to
