Private depot owners now sell Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) aka petrol at N210 per litre, it has been learnt.
The product, officially pegged at N148/litre at depots, has been scarce for three weeks in parts of the country.
The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) said some marketers who paid for petrol at the depots wait for over two weeks before lifting the product.
Its National Vice President, Alhaji Abubakar Maigand, said the product has become more difficult to access despite the Federal government’s promises.
Maigandi said: “There is no product availability. Most of the private depots are selling it at N210 per litres. They are supposed to sell N148/litre. It is giving us serious headache.
“Even at that N210/litre, you cannot get the product to load. Before you load it takes up to two to three weeks after the payment.
“Automatically, there is no product in most of the petrol stations. Yet, NNPC is saying it has large amount of product.”
The scarcity bit harder in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on Tuesday as most of the retail outlets were shut, giving black marketers the latitude to sell petrol in cans for as much as N400 per litre.
Curiously, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has not updated its stock record on its website since November 24.
The scarcity has spread to states, with attendant hike in transportation costs.