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Looming Price Hike: Queues Return in Petrol Stations
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The queues for petrol grew worse in some parts of the country on Sunday following the shutdown of many filling stations amid heightened expectations of an increase in the pump price of the product.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, had on February 9 said Nigerians should prepare for the pain associated with the increase in crude oil price.
The international oil price, Brent crude, rose by more than 14 per cent in February as it closed at $64.42 per barrel, up from $56.42 per barrel at the start of the month.
Motorists besieged the few outlets that were open for business in Abuja, Nasarawa, Niger and Borno states, while some others that had dispensed petrol the previous day were locked on Sunday.
Two weeks ago, queues of motorists were seen in many locations after oil marketers raised concerns about petrol pricing by depot owners and how this affected petroleum products supply.
The queues resurfaced on Saturday and Sunday, as only few filling stations were dispensing petrol while others were shut.
Some attendants at some of the shut outlets told one of our correspondents that they were not selling petrol because the cost of the product would be increased from March.
Nipco and Gegu filling stations, along the Kubwa-Zuba Expressway, Abuja, had long queues of motorists on Sunday, while IBWAS filling station on the same road that had earlier dispensed products was shut.
Similarly, Major Oil filling station, along Airport Road, Abuja, which had steadily dispensed products up till Saturday, did not sell petrol on Sunday.
Shema Oil, close to Next Cash ‘N’ Carry in Abuja; NNPC outlet in Zuba, Niger State, and few other filling stations in Nyanya/Mararaba in Nasarawa State had queues.
“We have not been advised of any increase in petrol price. Many filling stations are not selling petrol perhaps because they have run out of stock or they are hoarding the product in anticipation of price increase,” the National Operation Controller, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mr Mike Osatuyi, said.
Osatuyi, who spoke with one of our correspondents, said he observed queues in some stations in Lagos on Sunday.
“The outcome of the meeting between the President and the governors is not yet known. There will certainly be an increase in petrol price but we don’t know when this will happen,” he added.
In Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, motorists and other users of petrol were hit by scarcity of petrol on Sunday as fuel stations were shut down.
Fuel stations located along major highways, including Kano Jos road, Shehu Laminu way and Baga road, were not dispensing petrol, while motorists queued for hours at the filling stations that were selling the product.
Many commuters were stranded at bus stops in Maiduguri as motorists struggled at filling stations to get petrol.
“They said there is no fuel but they sell to black marketers; they have refused to sell to us. I have been here since 6:45am because my experience yesterday (Saturday) was horrible as I couldn’t get fuel. I’ve been here for over four hours and I have not got the product,” a tricycle operator, Abubakar Shettima, told one of our correspondents.
When contacted, the Chairman, IPMAN, Borno, Mohammed Ngala, denied that independent marketers were hoarding petrol, adding that Borno had been experiencing a shortage in recent days.
“Right now, we sell petrol at N165-N170 per litre. But the product is not enough to serve the populace. We don’t hoard fuel,” he said.
The Coalition of Nigerian Civil Society Organisations for Petroleum and Energy Security called on the Federal Government to fully deregulate the downstream oil sector to address the concerns about petroleum products’ pricing.
The Convener of the CSOs coalition, Timothy Ademola, said they had decided to interface with the Federal Government and agencies in the oil sector on the need for deregulation.
He said, “Let the forces of demand and supply be allowed to play out in the pricing of petroleum products. This is when we can say we have full deregulation.
“We are ready to partner government, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, the Department of Petroleum Resources and other agencies to make this work.”
The Managing Director, Realink Oil Nigeria Limited/National Public Relations Officer, IPMAN, Chief Ukadike Chinedu, had said in an interview with one of our correspondents last week that depot owners were hoarding products due to the concern of a possible hike in petrol price.
He said petrol price would definitely rise, going by the increase in global crude oil prices.
But the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency was silent on whether there would be an increase in petrol price in March as expected by marketers.
PPPRA’s spokesperson, Kimchi Apollo, told one of our correspondents that he had not received any directive in that regard.
The PUNCH had reported last Tuesday that going by the petrol pricing template of the PPPRA, the landing cost of petrol rose to N186.33 per litre on February 16, with the pump price of the product expected to be N209.33 per litre.
Reacting to complaints by marketers that some private depots had hiked the ex-depot price of petrol and that this would definitely warrant an increase in pump price, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation said it had not raised its ex-depot price yet.
Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, NNPC, Kennie Obateru, said the NNPC had made it clear that it was awaiting the outcome of the proposed meeting between the Federal Government and labour unions as touching the price of petrol.
“We have not increased ex-depot price. It is now left for the regulatory agencies to ensure that the approved ex-depot price is what the various depots stick to,” Obateru told one of our correspondents.
On how the meeting between the Federal Government and labour would affect petrol price, the NNPC spokesperson said, “We are also watching to see the outcome of that meeting before taking the next step.”
Efforts to the get the Department of Petroleum Resources to speak on what it was doing to address the complaints against depot owners was not successful.
The spokesperson for the agency, Paul Osu, did not answer calls to his phone and also did not reply a detailed text sent to him on the matter.
The Punch
Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, has denied saying the Federal government will introduce a fuel tax when the economy stabilises and income levels improve.
In a post on X on Tuesday, Oyedele said his remarks during an interview with ARISE News was misrepresented, insisting that a “fuel tax is not on the table.”
However, during the interview with Rotus Odiri, ARISE News Business Correspondent, on the sidelines of the 2026 International Monetary Fund and World Bank annual meetings in Bangkok, Thailand, Oyedele said the tax would come when income levels improve enough for Nigerians to accommodate it.
He said taxes account for between 20 and 80 percent of pump prices in some countries, while many African countries impose between six and 10 different taxes on fuel products.
He said introducing fuel tax while petrol was still subsidised would have been counterproductive because government would effectively be paying the tax itself.
According to him, imposing the tax immediately after removal of petrol subsidy would be insensitive to Nigerians.
“The objective should be that instead of trying to suppress prices, which hasn’t worked for us, it hasn’t worked for any country in the world, not one. Instead of trying to suppress prices, think about how to grow income faster than prices rise,” Oyedele said.
“That’s how you bring prosperity and grow the middle class and that is exactly what we are doing as led by Mr. President himself.
“At the appropriate time, when the economy has stabilizes and income level will be able to accommodate it, those taxes will come. Not because we want to impose taxes,” he added.
In his Tuesday post, the minister reiterated that introducing a fuel tax at this time would be insensitive following removal of petrol subsidy, describing reports that government will introduce the levy when the economy stabilises as “fake news.”
A chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), and Deputy Director of the Presidential Campaign Council, Chief Dele Momodu, has described former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar as the most nationally formidable and experienced among the leading contenders for the 2027 presidential election.
Momodu said Atiku’s experience at the national level distinguishes him from President Bola Tinubu and former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi.
He stated this on Wednesday during an interview on Eagle 102.5 FM, Ilese-Ijebu, in Abeokuta.
“If you look at the antecedents of the three major candidates, between Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi, you will see that Atiku is the most experienced. He has managed our country at the highest level,” he said.
Momodu traced Atiku’s political journey to the 1992 Social Democratic Party (SDP), presidential primary where he contested against late MKO Abiola and stepped down for him.
He said Atiku accepted the outcome without crisis even after he was not picked as Abiola’s running mate, describing it as a mark of true democratic temperament.
“He is the only one who started from around 1992, contested the SDP primary against Abiola and stepped down with uncommon equanimity. He did not make any noise,” Momodu said.
He noted that Atiku was among the founders of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and served as Vice-President from 1999 to 2007.
Comparing Atiku with Obi, Momodu argued that while Obi’s best was demonstrated in Anambra, Atiku’s was at the presidency level managing the national economy.
“Peter Obi has tried his best in Anambra, while Atiku’s best is at the level of vice president controlling the economy of Nigeria. The difference is clear. He has matured in experience and exposure,” he said.
Momodu also said President Tinubu’s experience was largely limited to Lagos.
“What I’m trying to say is that Tinubu’s experience was limited to Lagos, and that is why when he became president, he thought Nigeria was Lagos. And he has found out now that Nigeria is not Lagos,” he said.
He argued that the current economic hardship under the present administration did not show prosperity, insisting Atiku remained better positioned to lead the country.
“Well, we are yet to see that prosperity, and if yesterday would determine today and tomorrow, it is obvious that Tinubu should retire now and let someone else do it,” Momodu added.
DailyPost
President Bola Tinubu says he has no regrets over the removal of petrol subsidy and other economic reforms introduced by his administration, insisting that Nigeria could not borrow its way to greatness.
Meanwhile, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, has warned Nigerians against returning to petrol subsidy. He said the backtrack could trigger capital flight, undermining investor confidence and pushing the Naira to N3,000, N3,500 or even N4,000 per dollar.
But the Director of Media and Publicity of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), Kola Ologbondiyan, challenged Oyedele to publish the economic model behind his warning that a return to fuel subsidy could push the naira to N4,000 per dollar.
The President spoke on Monday during the City Boys Movement retreat in Abuja, where he charged members of the group to mobilise support for his administration ahead of the 2027 general elections, insisting that the country’s future mattered more than the ambition of any individual candidate.
“No regrets,” Tinubu said, insisting that his administration would not be pushed back from its reform agenda.
He took a swipe at his political opponents, promising to restore the petrol subsidy, saying Nigeria could no longer afford to pay the fuel subsidy, and warning that reversing the policy would take the country back to an unsustainable economic path.
Defending his decision to remove the subsidy on his first day in office, Tinubu said the country was on the verge of financial collapse and could no longer afford the policy’s cost.
Tinubu also sought to reassure Nigerians about the direction of the economy, arguing that growth was steady and that the sacrifices associated with his reforms would ultimately offer citizens a future worth believing in.
Oyedele disclosed during a press briefing of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Annual Meetings in Bangkok, Thailand, yesterday, that investors had repeatedly questioned whether the government would abandon its reforms ahead of the next election cycle.
Ruling out the reversal of the government’s economic reforms, he maintained that any signal that Tinubu’s administration was contemplating or reinstating the subsidy would immediately affect financial markets, raise borrowing costs and worsen economic pressures on households.
“In all the meetings I have had, I came to a conclusion that the markets, including the domestic market, which you can read from the capital market, and the international market, have largely written off the opposition in Nigeria as unserious.
“If, for any reason, the President were to say we are merely considering the return of fuel subsidy, capital would react immediately, airfares would struggle, the naira would come under severe pressure, potentially moving towards 3,000, 3,500 or even 4,000.
The very fuel people want subsidised would become far more expensive in Naira terms,” Oyedele warned.
However, Ologbondiyan accused the Federal government of using fear to discourage debate on fuel subsidy, insisting that Nigerians deserve evidence, not alarming projections, on the potential economic consequences of restoring the policy.
Speaking to journalists, he described the minister’s warning as scaremongering and demanded that the government explain how it arrived at the projected exchange rate.
“The Minister of Finance is merely scaremongering. He cannot claim that a return to fuel subsidy will cause the naira to depreciate to N4,000 to the dollar without showing Nigerians the model behind that projection,” he said.
He questioned the reliance on investors’ concerns to oppose a subsidy’s return, challenging the government to identify the sources of the projections and disclose their calculations.
