The President of the Association of Small Business Owners of Nigeria, Mr. Femi Egbesola has cried out the recent increase in the pump price of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) also known as diesel.
According to him, with the epileptic public power supply in the country, diesel is mostly used by businesses to power their generators, therefore the rising cost of diesel and raw materials is giving us, the manufacturers, a nightmare.
He said it is difficult for businesses to factor all the incessant increase in diesel price in their final product prices, adding that, that is why a lot of companies are downsizing.
Some filling stations now sell between N220 to N245/litre.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) had in it’s AGO price report, on Tuesday, said the average price paid by consumers for diesel increased by 0.22% to N224.86 per litre in January 2021 from the N224.37 in December 2017.
Crude oil price accounts for a large chunk of the final cost of petroleum products, therefore the deregulation of the downstream oil sector by the Federal Government translates to the fact that the pump prices of the products will reflect changes in the international oil market.
As of the time of filing this report, none of the government agencies including the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) has reacted to the recent hike in the price of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO).
