Petroleum product marketers in Akwa Ibom State have made an upward adjustment in petrol price from the approved pump price of N145 per litre to N150, as fuel scarcity looms in the oil producing state.
According to checks, all the filling stations in Uyo, operated by independent petroleum marketers, have effected marginal increase in petrol price, despite Federal Government’s repeated denial that it has no plans to do so.
Further checks show that the increase may have been due to fears of fuel scarcity following advice from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that the Federal Government should remove subsidy in petrol, according to industry sources.
In many states in the Niger Delta region, long queues have been reported in filling stations, though Akwa Ibom State has not been hard hit, but with the slight adjustment in price there are fears in some quarters that there could be further adjustment in the price regime.
Those who spoke with our reporter stated that the N5 increase in petrol stations run by independent marketers is likely to further make life unbearable to the people as incomes and wages have remained stagnant for some time.
A motorist at one of the filling stations in Uyo expressed dismay that with the increase in the pump price of petrol, the economic situation would likely worsen adding that it could lead to increase in transport fares and high cost of living.
‘I have noticed that the marketers have adjusted the pump price of petrol in many filling stations. This is coming few weeks after the general elections and it portends more hardship ahead, the motorist who gave his name as Okon said.
Some of the petrol attendants did not offer any reason for the adjustment with some saying that they return to the old price “as soon as the situation improves.”
Speaking also, a source close to the Akwa Ibom government house lamented that despite Akwa Ibom State being a major oil producer, it has no petrochemical facility to show adding that the impact of the increase in the pump price of petrol would be felt more in the rural communities more where farmers are likely to raise the price of their commodities as well as.
Both the chairman of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association (IPMAN) in the state and the special adviser to the governor on petroleum matters, Essien Eseme could not be reached as their phones were all switched off.
