Nigerians have dumped the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited retail outlets over high prices of premium motor spirits.
A Media Talk Africa correspondent who went round major NNPCL retail outlets in Abuja observed low patronage by motorists in the nation’s capital, Abuja.
This was also the case for NNPCL retail outlets along Kubwa Expressway and those in Wuse Zone 4 and 6, which dispense fuel at N910 per litre.
Musa Abdullahi, a motorist in Abuja, said he preferred to buy at other filling stations with fuel prices below N910 per litre.
Reacting to the development, the spokesperson of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Chinedu Ukadike, said commuters prefer to patronise filling stations with competitive prices is why patronage dropped in NNPCL.
“The disparity in prices in filling stations is due to the deregulation of the downstream sector. Filling stations now compete not only because of their brand but also their prices. Before now NNPCL filling stations had queues because of their prices but the reverse is the case today,” he told Media Talk Africa exclusively.
Media Talk Africa reports that after Dangote Refinery announced a fresh petrol price template last week, partners and markets such as MRS, AP Ardova, Optima, Bova, and others dropped their fuel price by 15 to N895 per litre from N910.
Media Talk Africa reports other petrol marketers, such as Salbas and AA Rano in Abuja, had reduced their petrol price from N910 per litre to N900 as of Tuesday. Similarly, others, fuel marketers previously dispensing fuel at N917 per litre in Abuja, have reduced to N910 to remain attractive to patronage.
However, NNPCL retail outlets had to hold on to 910 litres. The development comes as NNPCL Saturday shut down its Port Harcourt Refinery for maintenance.
