Petroleum marketers have sounded the alarm over the closure of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) portal, which is used for purchasing Premium Motor Spirit (Petrol).
The shutdown has left dealers unable to apply for the commodity.
Chinedu Ukadike, spokesperson for the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, revealed this in a statement on Wednesday.
He noted that marketers currently have over 2,000 pending tickets for the purchase of 45,000 liters of petrol.
He noted that the situation may result in another round of fuel scarcity nationwide.
“I can’t confirm the price now because the portal is still shut down.
“We have more than 2,000 tickets for 45,000 liters (of petrol). That is 45,000 multiplied by 2,000, you can now know the number of million liters it will be. This is just an estimate, you know I don’t work with NNPCL and I don’t know what is on their system,” Ukadike stated.
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He noted that a 45,000-litre truckload of PMS costs approximately N39.5 million, amounting to N79 billion when multiplied by 2,000.
In response to the situation, NNPCL spokesperson Olufemi Soneye acknowledged that the state-owned company is facing a considerable backlog.
He explained that the closure of the portal was aimed at avoiding prolonged retention of marketers’ funds by the company.
While Soneye assured that the portal would be reopened soon, he did not provide a specific date for when this would occur.
“We have a significant backlog to address. The closure is intended to prevent us from holding marketers’ funds for an extended period,” Soneye had explained.
“It will be reopened once the backlog has been sufficiently reduced. We are working to address it as soon as possible,” he stated.
The development occurs amidst Nigerians grappling with soaring energy costs.
In September 2024, NNPCL announced a new nationwide petrol price hike following its procurement from the Dangote Refinery.
Currently, petrol prices range between N950 and N1,100 per liter across the country.
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