N165 Pump Price: NMDPRA Monitors Petrol Depots, Stations

The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) announced on Monday that it has sent representatives to retail stations and oil depots in Lagos to check on adherence to the N165 pump price cap.

In an interview conducted in Lagos, Ayorinde Cardoso, Zonal Operations Controller, NMDPRA, Lagos, verified the development.

A media reporter who followed the situation in the Lagos State neighbourhoods of Ikeja, Ejigbo, Iyana-Ipaja, and Oshodi on Monday saw that some independent petroleum merchants were charging between N170 and N180 per litre for gasoline.

Cardoso, however, said that the Federal Government had mandated that the industry participants adhere to the N165 pump price for gasoline as specified in the pricing template.

“Our officials are on surveillance of the depots and retail outlets to ensure that they comply with the directive.

“We want to make sure that the depots are selling at the approved ex-depot price to marketers and also ensure that marketers are not selling to motorists above N165 per litre.

“We are optimistic that normalcy will return to petrol distribution in Lagos very soon as we have made a lot of progress in terms of product availability.”

According to Chinedu Okoronkwo, President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), more IPMAN members are now open for business, which has reduced the length of the gasoline lines in Lagos.

“The queues are beginning to disappear as more of our members have products now and are selling.

“We have heard complaints that some of them are selling above N165 but you cannot blame them because they bought it at higher prices at the private depots.

“Once products are available everywhere they won’t have any option than to sell at N165,” Okoronkwo said.