Petrol may hit N800/litre on subsidy removal – Marketers

Oil marketers in Nigeria have said that the removal of the Premium of Motor Spirit, called petrol, by government without taking necessary measures will lead to scarcity of the product adding that the cost could sell for as high as N800/litre.

The country has been facing scarcity of the product since November 2022.

This could be the outcome of the gradual removal of petrol subsidy. The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, had said that the budgetary allocation for subsidy would end in June.

According to the Secretary of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Abuja-Suleja, Mohammed Shuaibu, said petrol will be scarce, even from the government cycle if the subsidy was removed without appropriate measure.

“If the government fails to take the appropriate measures, and they say they want to remove fuel subsidy, the situation will be worse than this, the masses will suffer. How can you remove subsidy and you don’t have this product (petrol).

“If the government removes subsidy, where is the product? If you are removing subsidy, maybe by that time, the way diesel is sold at between N800 – N900/litre, we could be buying petrol at N800/litre, if not more than that.”