•Consumers lament unmet expectations
By Adewale Sanyaolu
One week after the Dangote Petroleum Refinery commenced its direct supply of petrol with free delivery, pegging prices at N841 and N851 per litre respectively, Daily Sun market survey across some states on Monday revealed that the new retail prices set by the Refinery have yet to take effect.
This comes as consumers and motorists expressed disappointment at the failure of the scheme to kick-off contrary to the widely publicised scheme by Dangote Refinery.
The direct fuel distribution scheme was initially scheduled to commence on August 15, with 4,000 CNG trucks but was delayed due to logistics challenges in China.
The Refinery in a bid to ensure a smooth take-off of the scheme, had pegged petrol prices at N841 per litre in Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Ondo,Osun and Ekiti.
On the other hand, it pegged prices at N851 per litre in Abuja, Delta, Rivers, Edo and Kwara, with a pledge that it would subsequently expand its operations to other States.
But in Lagos yesterday most partner filling stations of the Dangote Refinery which included; MRS, Ardova, Heyden, Sunbeth and Optima Energy were all selling at N865 per litre, a price above the Refinery’s recommended retail price.
In Abeokuta, the MRS filling station was selling at N865 to N875 per litre while in Ilorin it was selling for N870 per litre, Benin at N895 per litre, Osogbo at N865 per litre and Ibadan at N875 per litre. Some of the motorists who spoke to Daily Sun in separate interviews said the inability to get the product at the N841 per litre in Lagos came to them as a rude shock.
They said they had expected that the N24 per litre price reduction would provide them some levels of savings considering the volume they use on a weekly basis.
Also speaking, the President of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), Mr. Billy Gillis-Harry, said the frequent price cuts aren’t sustainable in the downstream sector.
“For Dangote, it is not easy as they thought. It is not easy to work the way they have planned because there has been always been a very well tested distribution system that has taken over 20 years to get to where it is.
So, one company cannot wake up one day and think they can do it the way they want to do it. I am not sure they understand the dynamics of the business,’’.
He said playing in the sector is beyond flooding the roads with trucks but rather, more of strategy and planning.
The PETROAN President lamented that from day one, the business doesn’t appear to want to accommodate small players like PETROAN.
“We are small players but with our numbers, we become a very major player in the industry.All we are asking is for the business model that is presented by Dangote’s management to include PETROAN because we are also a major force to be reckoned with”.
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