The Natural Oil and Gas Suppliers Association of Nigeria (NOGASA) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime to increase the price of fuel.

“Increase the fuel price a little so that the savings  will be enough for the central bank to have enough forex. You and I know that everything now is imported, the diesel is imported and it is a full deregulation business,” said NOAGA president Benneth Okorie, while fielding questions from journalists in Abuja.

Mr Okorie added, “So the importers are not getting dollars to import this diesel at the official rate of CBN. So everybody is going to black market to get dollars to import their diesel, so you expect the diesel to be high.”

The NOGASA president attributed the current scarcity of fuel to the high cost of diesel for transporting the product. According to him, the reason the nation is  experiencing fuel scarcity in Abuja, particularly is due to the high cost of diesel.

He stated that diesel cost N850 per litre in the market and that the money paid to transporters was not  enough.

“If you look at it at N850 and you are giving your driver N1,200 litres from Abuja to Lagos, if you plus and minus it, you will find out that it is about N40 per litre,” Mr Okorie pointed out. “So, if you add it to PMS, buying the depot price and selling here is too high. If you bring it at N40 and you buy at N155 plus N40 which is 195, you now sell at N165, who will do that business? It is at a loss.”

The NOGASA boss added that even with the “PEF, you will not get the product to Abuja, so the answer to your questions is the price of diesel is too high at N850 as of today in the market.”

He further stated, “As far as I know, nothing  for now to address this situation. The only way out, if you want to know, is that they should increase the price of fuel a little to reduce the money spent on PMS subsidy.”

(NAN)