Nigeria may be heading for another major crisis as the price of diesel hits N145 per litre instead of the official N70, while the price of cement has also returned to N2000 per bag.
For weeks now, many companies have had to operate minimally while several others have stopped production due to the high cost of diesel.
At the peak of the high cost of cement early this year, business mogul, Aliko Dangote, said the price would be reduced to N800 before June, but, instead, the price has continued to soar.
On diesel, Saturday Tribune learnt that most of the Independent Marketers now get their supply from private oil companies in Lagos because the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) had stopped pumping the product to Ibadan and other depots in the country for over eight years now leading to a disparity in the price of the product.
In both Lagos and Ikorodu, diesel is being sold between N140 and N145, while some of the independent marketers that went to Warri and Port-Harcourt have been stranded as they could not get supply.
Reports have it that many companies now complain that diesel is too expensive for them to run on, especially as the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) has refused to wake up.
While speaking with Saturday Tribune, the Chairman of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria(IPMAN), Chief Akanni Oyewole, appealed to the Federal Government to ensure that diesel is being loaded in all the depots in Nigeria so as to avert an economy crisis as many companies depend on it.
He stated that diesel should normally sell for N60.15 from the depot and sold at the government stipulated N70 after adding all expenses, while kerosene that is supposed to be sold for N47.70 is now being sold between N69 and N71 per litre.
Oyewole said, �The Independent Marketers have been faced with serious problems of buying at a very high rate and that this has affected business as most of the people that buy from us could no more afford it due to the hike.�
Also speaking, the Chairman of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers, PTD unit of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG), Mr. Basiru Lamidi Apapa, said, �Diesel is being sold for N145 and that is why the fare for transporting petroleum products has increased.�
He further stated: �All efforts to get the Federal Government to find a lasting solution to the problem by getting our refineries back in shape have proved abortive and if by tomorrow we react by embarking on strike, they will start to give us a bad name.�
The duo, however, said nothing meaningful could be done to rectify the crisis if the products could not be sold at the NNPC depots across the nation.
In Enugu State, diesel, otherwise known as gas, is not a cheap commodity as the price of the product has continued to soar in the market, Saturday Tribune�s investigation has shown.
When ST visited some gas stations in Enugu on Friday, it was discovered that there was a disparity in the price of diesel in the state.
While major oil marketers like Total and Oando sell diesel at N135 per litre, Independent marketers put their price at N145 per litre.
However, at Texaco filling stations, the story is different as the oil company has just on Friday reverted to N121 per litre as against its previuos price of N129.
A visit to Clemany Oil, an independent marketer situated along O�Connor, Enugu, saw the price of diesel displaced as N110 even when the product is sold at N145 just as with many other independent marketers.
Both station managers of Total and Texaco who gave their names as Raymond Ugwu and Miss Rosaline Eze said in a separate interview that their supply had been smooth even though they go as far as to Lagos to get the product following the shutting of Enugu NNPC depot. According to the oil workers, only few drivers use diesel, adding that their rate of turn over had not changed either.
Asked the reason for the difference in prices of diesel in the state, Mr. Ugwo of Tony oil explained that most of the Independent marketers depend on the major marketers as the major marketers supply them the petroleum product.
�We have to sell above the price of major marketers to survive in the business. We make sure we do not adulterate the diesel�, he added.
But, an 508 bus driver who gave his name as Joseph Idoko told NIGERIAN TRIBUNE that the higher the price of diesel the higher the cost of transport fare, pointing that before the recent increase of diesel, a drop was N20.00 but now it is N40.00 and that is between Gariki, Awkunanaw and New market.
It was also learnt that some residents of Enugu have abandoned the use of diesel for kerosene largely because of the high price of the product.Mrs. Maria Okeke said that she had for the past one year stopped the use of gas in cooking as she could no longer afford it.
It could be recalled that the Enugu NNPC depot had for years shut down prompting diesel and fuel dealers in the Southeast geo-political zone to go to Lagos or Port Harcourt to buy petroleum products including diesel.