Fuel price hike: Marketers reveal details of meeting with DSS

Nigeria’s oil marketers have said the director general of the Department of State Services, Adeola Ajayi has intervened in its complaints about the high price of Premium Motor Spirit(Petrol) by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and unpaid debts.

The spokesperson of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Chinedu Ukadike said this in an interview with lawblogng at the weekend.

This comes after petroleum marketers and the DSS had a meeting on Wednesday amid the recent hike in petrol price to N1030 per liter by NNPC.

Giving details of the meeting, Ukadike said that the Chief Executive of Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Farouk Ahmed agreed to issue their members bulk purchase license to get petrol directly from Dangote Refinery.

He also said that the NMDPRA has pledged to release N10 billion to offset debts owed to marketers.

“The Director of the Department of State Security has intervened in our complaints about high petrol prices, debt owed to us, and challenges facing the oil and gas sector.

“The director intervened and said that we should be patient, and he also made some calls.

“The Executive Director of NDPRA said he would issue us a bulk purchase license to get petrol directly from Dangote Refinery.

“NNDPRA promised to release N10 billion to pay outstanding bills to petroleum marketers. We asked members to continue operations”, he told lawblogng.

Recall that petroleum marketers had vowed to shut down operations over ex-depot price of N1,010 per liter by the NNPC which is higher than the N1030 per litre retail price.

Earlier, the oil marketers had raised alarm that NNPC owed them over N15 billion.

on September 15, 2024, Dangote Refinery commenced petrol distribution with NNPCL as the sole off-taker.