Nigerians continue to pay more as the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported, yesterday, that the average retail price of automotive gas oil (diesel) increased by 68.01 per cent in the past year.
The price rose from N842.25 per liter in April last year to a higher cost of N1415.06 per litre in April 2024.
NBS in its automotive gas oil (AGO) Price Watch for April 2024 said that on a month-on-month basis, the price of the product increased by 5.51 percent, from N1341.16 in the preceding month of March 2024 to an average of N1415.06 in April 2024.
The NBS also reported that the average retail price of premium motor spirit (petrol) for April 2024 was N701.24, indicating a 176.02 per cent increase when compared to the value recorded in April 2023 which was N254.06.
This is contrary to the claims in April that the price of diesel dropped following the sale of the commodity by the Dangote Petroleum Refinery.
Officials of the Dangote Refinery and oil dealers had noted that the product was dispensed to marketers at between N1,225/litre and N1,300/litre depending on the volume of purchase.
But looking at the variations in the State prices, the top three states with the highest average price of the product in April 2024 include Taraba state where it sold for N1742.46, Bauchi where the price was N1669.63 and Borno with a price of N1652.61.
Interestingly, the top three lowest prices were recorded in Niger State where it sold for N1023, Kogi State at N1152.5 and Adamawa State where it was sold for N1257.5.
Contrary to expectations that South-west zone where Dangote Refinery is located would enjoy cheaper diesel, the North Central Zone recorded the lowest price of N1307.21, while the North East Zone posted the highest price of N1553.8.
For petrol, NBS said the average retail price increased by 0.64 per cent from N696.79 when it was sold in March 2024.
On state analysis, Kogi state had the highest average retail price for Premium Motor Spirit, at N797.78, Nasarawa and Zamfara States were next, with N778.89 and N754.29, respectively.
Lagos, Niger, and Ogun states had the lowest average retail prices of fuel at N602.55, N633.75 and N647.14 respectively.
The North-East had the highest average retail price of N734.7, while South West had the lowest price of N655.66.
Just over the weekend at the Africa CEO Forum Annual Summit in Kigali, the President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, was quoted as saying that Nigeria will stop the importation of petrol into the country by June.
He said the country should end petrol imports by June when Dangote refinery commences production of the product.
“Right now, Nigeria has no cause to import anything apart from gasoline and by sometime in June, within the next four or five weeks, Nigeria shouldn’t import anything like gasoline, not one drop of litre,” he said.
