THE ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine is already having biting effects outside Europe as oil industry operators in Nigeria on Thursday raised the alarm over the price of Automotive Gas Oil ( Diesel) in the country.
Speaking at the Annual General Meeting of the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) held at Zuma Resort, National President of the association, Yusuf Lawan Othman told the gathering of stakeholders in the downstream oil sector that the price of diesel is becoming increasingly unbearable for his members.
With the price of crude oil at $121.3, Nigeria with its four refineries with installed refinery capacity of 445,000 barrels of crude oil per day in bad shape, it relies heavily on imported Premium Motor Spirit, (PMS) Automotive Gas Oil (Diesel) and aviation fuel to run its economy.
While he commended the federal government for increasing the freight rate granted transporters, Alhaji Othman expressed regret that the price of diesel had compounded the cost of operations for his members.
He said: “As of today, the price of diesel is impacting negatively on our business, not only our business but almost all activities in Nigeria because fuel is imported into the country.
“And naturally it’s usually at the international price and everybody knows that the international price is affected by the current war in Ukraine and Russia. “So, of course, because we import it, it’s really very costly.
“We appreciate the effort of the government for this increase, but at the same time, we appreciate the fact that the increase would not have been noticed because of the higher cost of diesel.
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“But we know the cost of diesel has gone up and we know the war will not last forever. Very soon, of course, we will expect things to normalize. The price will normalize, meaning that the increase will be meaningful. But in any case, if this continues to go up, we will have no option than to go back to the government.”
Executive Secretary of Major Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Clement Isong, who made a virtual presentation, said the ongoing war had complicated the volatility in the oil industry in Nigeria as he recalled that marketers were yet to come out of the unpleasant development of contaminated fuel coupled with high foreign exchange rate.
Isong, who sympathised with members of NARTO over what he called unstable business environment, said the federal government must look into the high cost of diesel.
His counterpart, National President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Alhaji Debo Ahmed spoke in similar vein as he said the cost of diesel had become exorbitant.
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