On Thursday August 24, oil marketers insisted on the possibility of a price increase in the price of petrol at the pump, following a further plunge of the value of the naira.
The naira’s value against the US currency has plummeted.
The oil dealers and marketers stated that with the currency rate at N920/$, the pump price of petrol could not remain at N617/litre, especially if the current exchange rate remained.
Mohammed Shuaibu, the Secretary of IPMAN, Abuja-Suleja said;
“the petroleum products market today is largely determined by forex.
“Of course, there was panic when the dollar was almost hitting N1,000, which is why the government is supposed to act quickly to avoid a crisis. They (the government) debunked projections of fuel price hikes. But the truth is that as it is now, no indigenous marketer is going to bring in this product any longer because of the rate of the dollar. The petrol being consumed now is from the reserve, but we don’t know what the government’s plan is. | don’t know if there is any ship that is bringing in products now.”