Modupe Gbadeyanka
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The price of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO), commonly known as diesel, has been crashed to around N175 to N200 per litre by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) from N300 per litre it was sold in the first quarter of this year.
It was gathered that the drop in price of the commodity was as a result of key strategic interventions by the state-owned oil firm.
Diesel is one of the deregulated products in the country and its high price had placed a huge burden on truck drivers, who needed the product for transporting their vehicles; the nation’s manufacturing sector, which required it to run its operations as well as on the masses, who needed it for household power generation.
But following strategic intervention efforts by the NNPC towards sustained improvement in the supply of the diesel, the product’s retail prices as at the end of May 2017 ranged from N175 to N200 across the country (a significant price drop of about 42 percent), while ex-depot prices also dropped to between N135 and N155.
Shedding more light on this remarkable achievement, NNPC spokesperson, Mr Ndu Ughamadu, said some of the corporation’s strategic interventions in this regard included improving the supply of AGO and remodelling of the product distribution to address sufficiency issues across the country.
“Since January this year, we have worked very hard with relevant stakeholders to improve distribution from refinery depots, by implementing a robust loading programme,” Mr Ughamadu affirmed.
Also, in its quest to enhance efficient distribution of AGO, the Corporation was able to resuscitate its critical pipelines and depots in places such as Atlas Cove-Mosimi, Port-Harcourt Refinery-Aba and Kaduna Refinery-Kano. Efforts are also ongoing to revamp and commission other critical pipelines across the country.
Another key intervention that has enhanced supply and distribution of diesel, the NNPC spokesperson noted, was the agency’s robust engagement with critical downstream stakeholders where salient issues were raised and duly addressed.
These stakeholders include Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) as well as Independent Petroleum Marketers.
Furthermore, as a result of consistent positive engagement with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), NNPC equally extended the expansion of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) Foreign Exchange Intervention Scheme to accommodate Diesel and Aviation Fuel.
