As Long queues return to the major roads in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has attributed the fuel scarcity to a market-driven price war.
Olufemi Soneye, NNPC’s Chief Corporate Communications Officer, said that the prevailing tightness in Abuja stemmed from this competitive pricing strategy, elucidating that while NNPC sold at N613, other competitors priced between N625 and N650.
The price disparity, reaching as high as N650 per litre in some stations, prompted frantic dashes to fill stations selling at lower rates, intensifying the struggle for affordable fuel and causing traffic chaos across the city.
Checks revealed that many independent marketers’ stations have already raised the price of Premium Motor Spirit also known as petrol, to as much as N650 per litre, thereby heightening the price difference between the major marketers including the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited which are still selling petrol at N617 and N613 per litre respectively.
With the huge price difference, motorists thronged the filling stations still selling petrol at the old prices, especially NNPC retail stations, thereby resulting in long queues.
