Some Osun motorists have decried the increase in the price of petrol following its unavailability in most filling stations.

A correspondent, who monitored some filling stations in the state capital Osogbo and its environs, reports that petrol was being sold between N280 and N300 per litre.

The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) had, on January 5, sealed eight filling stations in Osun for allegedly selling petrol above the government-approved pump price of N165 per litre.

During the exercise, the NMDPRA coordinator in the state, Kunle Adeyemo, said the agency’s routine surveillance of filling stations was to sensitise the public that the pump price of petrol approved by the federal government had not changed.

A motorist in Osogbo, Joseph Efunkunle, complained about the inconsistency in the price of petrol in most filling stations he had visited.

Mr Efunkunle said petrol was sold at N300 per litre at Okanlawon filling, which had a long queue of vehicles that spilt to the main road.

He said that at some filling stations, fuel was sold between N280 and N285 per litre in Osogbo and the outskirt, while the majority sold at N300 per litre in other areas of the state.

Also, Lawal Abdullahi, a civil servant, appealed to governments at all levels to intervene in making the commodity available and affordable.

He said the so-called cabals in the oil industry must be checkmated if the issue of price hikes or scarcity would be resolved permanently.

Bukola Mutiu, chairman of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) in charge of Oyo and Osun, in an interview in Osogbo on Tuesday, said the federal government should remove petroleum subsidy for the masses to enjoy the product.

“We load the products at an official rate of N152 from private depots after NNPC might have given them at a cheaper rate of N113 per litre, and they sell to marketers at N180 or thereabout, on or before now, but recently things have gone worse.

“For over six months, private depots have blocked the avenue of getting petroleum products to buy from them, giving flimsy excuses.

“And recently, on January 23, we bought such commodity from the private depots at the rate of N275 per litre without them conveying such commodity for us,’’ he said.

Mr Mutiu further said the association had written severally to NNPC in Abuja on the dangers of the hike in the price of fuel before now.

(NAN)