The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, has shut down its portal for purchasing Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, also known as petrol, leaving petroleum marketers in a bind.
Chinedu Ukadike, spokesperson for the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, revealed that marketers have over 2,000 pending tickets for 45,000 liters of petrol, which could lead to another round of fuel scarcity nationwide.
To put this into perspective, a 45,000-liter truckload of PMS costs around N39.5 million, and with 2,000 pending tickets, that’s a whopping N79 billion.
Ukadike noted that the portal shutdown makes it impossible to confirm current prices.
He said: “I can’t confirm the price now because the portal is still shut down.
“We have more than 2,000 tickets for 45,000 liters (of petrol). That is 45,000 multiplied by 2,000, you can now know the number of million liters it will be. This is just an estimate, you know I don’t work with NNPCL and I don’t know what is on their system.”
NNPCL’s spokesperson, Olufemi Soneye, acknowledged the significant backlog and explained that the portal closure aims to prevent the company from holding marketers’ funds for too long.
Soneye assured that the portal will reopen once the backlog is reduced, but did not provide a specific date.
He said:
“We have a significant backlog to address. The closure is intended to prevent us from holding marketers’ funds for an extended period.
“It will be reopened once the backlog has been sufficiently reduced. We are working to address it as soon as possible.
This development comes at a time when Nigerians are already struggling with high energy costs.
Cyber Reporters reported that in September 2024, NNPCL announced a fresh price increase for petrol nationwide, with prices ranging from N950 to N1,100 per liter.
Marketers are now turning to private depot owners, who sell petrol at a premium, further increasing costs.
The situation has sparked concerns among Nigerians, with some calling for increased transparency and accountability in the oil industry.
Others suggest that Dangote Refinery should sell petrol at a lower price to alleviate the burden on citizens.
