I think the labor unions are waiting to see what the new govt is going to do about it. As someone on this thread stated, the price increase could be a political gimmick; prices could revert to the old prices in due course.

I agree with Gnature completely that we need to improve our refining capacity.

We are all aware that our Govt at all levels cannot manage anything service or product oriented, they are only good at churning out policies. My thinking is if we can explore and refine here in Nigeria, we would have hedged out the effect of rising costs of crude in the Global markets.

We can effectively refine for local production and even export if the govt could go into Joint venture arrangements with the Exploration companies and by statute ensure they refine a certain percentage of the Crude production here in Nigeria. If this happens there would be a glut (excess supply of refined over the demand) and lead to lower or reasonable prices.

We are buying the fuel here in Ph at =N=200 a litre and you would just be lucky if it is not adulterated.

As long as we continue to import the refined products we shall continue to pay more!!!!!!

My heart Bleeds when ever i remeber my Beloved country NIGERIA. May God Continue to save us as He always do otherwise ,

I'm one of those who believe Mr (or is it Chief now) Obasanjo's government did a lot of harm than good to this nation.

Several projects undertaken did not reflect the true yearnings of the nigeria people. After eight years of rule, he could not find answers to the basic problems of power, job creation, inflation rate, high exchange and needless to say, the fuel crisis and education.
Obasanjo's government was a failure.

Let's hope that President Ya'ardua tackle this issues as he assumes office.

Petrol is now N180 per litre in Port Harcourt

LAGOS — AS Nigerians continue to grapple with the effects of the recent increase in the prices of petroleum products, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has issued a 14-day ultimatum backed with a plethora of demands to President Umaru Yar’Adua. Top of the demands is the reversal of increase in fuel prices and VAT or face industrial action.

Already, another round of fuel scarcity looms in Lagos and other cities of the South-West following the emergence of long queues, while in Port Harcourt and Yenagoa, petrol was sold above N150 per litre in filling stations yesterday.

In Lagos, filling stations monitored were either closed to customers or had long queues of vehicles to attend to on account of the protracted issue of parking space between the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG) and the Presidential Task Force on roads de-congestion.

NLC issues ultimatum

Specifically, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) asked President Yar’Adua to reverse the last increase in petroleum products within two weeks; reduce the Value Added Tax (VAT) regime from 10 per cent to five per cent and implement the 15 per cent increase of the minimum wage for government workers or face a nationwide workers strike.

The NLC gave the ultimatum through a statement signed yesterday in Abuja by its National President, Comrade Abdul Waheed Omar, after its emergency meeting, weekend, to deliberate on a number of actions and policies implemented during the last days of the Obasanjo administration.

“If these demands are not met within 14 days from Monday, June 4, 2007, Congress will have no other option than to embark on strike to press these demands.
“We urge you to take the necessary steps to meet these demands. Congress is convinced that the price increase was uncalled for. To begin with, the manner in which the increase was effected violated due process.

“Labour contended that the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), which is responsible for regulating prices, did not meet to deliberate the increase, adding that the argument being touted about the need to reduce subsidy is lame.

“The NLC decried the high rate of dependence on private energy generation by manufacturers and other producers, necessitated by unstable and unpredictable power supply, as well as the near total dependence on road transportation for the movement of goods and persons.”

Petrol sells for N150 in Port Harcourt

Filling stations monitored in Port Harcourt, weekend, were seen dispensing petrol to motorists who were willing to part with N150 per litre, while in Yenagoa, filling stations dispensed petrol between N160 and N180 per litre.

Worst still, motorists in Port Harcourt had to contend with traffic jams which lasted two hours or more, wasting the fuel purchased at high prices.
Some motorists who spoke with Vanguard said they had to also contend with the risk of purchasing condensate in place of petrol and that this affected the performance of their engines.

In Port Harcourt metropolis, it was also observed that throughout the weekend, there was no electricity supply and residents had to make do with power generating sets.

Rivers State hosts two refineries with an installed capacity of 210,000 barrels per day, operated by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Both of them are not functional at the moment, with domestic requirements taken care of by imports.

Long queues return in Lagos

As the stoppage of lifting petroleum products by NUPENG enters day four today, petrol queues have become chaotic in stations in the Lagos metropolis and its environs.

On the Apapa-Oshodi expressway in Lagos, all the petrol stations on the stretch were saddled with long vehicular queues, the two Total filling stations visited were not having products at press time, while there were long queues at Texaco and AP filling stations along the expressway when Vanguard visited.
Visits to petroleum depots around Lagos also revealed that operations had come to a standstill since last Friday both at the independent depots as well as NNPC depots.

However, black market operators were seen along the road in some areas clinging to various sizes of jerry cans apparently to commence sales to motorists in dare need of the product.

The Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) members have since Friday, May 1, stopped loading products in private depots in Lagos and its environs except the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) facilities in Lagos that have parking space for tankers.

The Presidential Task Force headed by one Col Adebayo and inaugurated by ex-President Obasanjo a few days to his exit, had on Friday, May 1, threatened to forcefully remove any tanker seen on the highway especially the Oshodi\Apapa Expressway.

Leaders of PTD in the state said they decided to withdraw their members from the road to avoid confrontation with the Presidential Task Force officials who may not understand the plight of the drivers.

Secretary of the Western zone of NUPENG, Comrade Tokunbo Korodo, lamented that efforts to make the private tank farm owners under the aegis of Depot Petroleum Products Marketing Association (DAPPMA) to provide parking space for tankers had not yielded positive result as DAPPMA kept on promising without action.

According to him, “there is nothing we can do other than what we are doing now. We do not want a confrontation with the Task Force officials. They have threatened to tow away any tanker on the expressway. The parking space at Orile Iganmu, the Phase one of the project will be commissioned before the end of the month. But that can only take 400 tankers. So, that is our predicament. To avoid confrontation with the task force, we have ordered our members to stop loading since Friday. As we speak, our members are not loading in all the private depots in Lagos. Loading is only taking place in NNPC depots where they have parking facilities.”

Na wa o!

even at N75 per litre in Lagos you still need to fight and keep vigil at filling stations to get the damn fuel

baba as his being called is only preparing money for his masive Obituary and datz why d fuel is only going up mark dis day dnt be surprise dat when he's gone dis fuel stuff might be able to go back to 22naira & we'll tak transport for 5# hail, so letz pray he dies so as not to control yaradua

Breaking News : Tanker Drivers Punish Lagosians, Commuters Stranded
Posted by admin on 2007/6/5 17:13:21 (279 reads)

By Ayodele Lawal

Lagos commuters have been going through a difficult time. Getting to their destinations has become tough due to the scarcity of fuel caused by the refusal of oil tanker drivers to lift oil from the depots. The three-day-old strike by oil tanker drivers is beginning to take its toll on Lagosians. Several commuter vehicle operators have parked their buses while the few available ones have increased their fares by as much as 80 percent.

A journey from Ikorodu to Ojota, which used to cost N50 is now N80 while a trip from Ogba to Ojota, which used to cost N40, is now N70 and a trip from Ogba to Ojuelegba which was N100 is now N120.

A bus ride from Ogba to Obalende-CMS which was N120, is now N150 and the fare for Ogba to Iyana Ipaja which was N50, is now N70. Ogba to Oshodi which was N50 is now N70.

P.M.News checks revealed that the price of fuel has increased by as much as 20%. A litre of petrol which officially sold for N75 per litre now goes for between N100 and N110.

Okada riders are now making brisk business as they have also hiked their fares per trip. Most of the operators now prefer long distance trips to make more money.

Vehicles were seen on long queues this morning at the few petrol stations which had the product.

Following the scarcity of petrol, black market operators are having a field day as they now sell a 4-litre container of petrol for N500, making N200 profit, while a 50-litre gallon goes for N5,000 instead of N3,250.

The black market rate is way above the newly introduced official rate of N75 a litre.

why all the hues and cry about fuel increament?
i beg how much is 75naira?
at least traffik will reduce,especially along Lagos-ikorodu road!
woo,Fasola or wetin be ur name,do dt road quick o!
whether fuel be 200 naira,i no send,reason being that i know Nigeria can never be BETTER! kii sepe! all i want now is to go to Australia.or can any one help me out!

What always amazes me is that there is no fuel at the petrol station but there will be in the black market with some of the dealers selling directly in front of the filling station. What is Yar'adua saying about the crises anyway?

wetin be that baba own self, haha

i tire for dat baba oh!!!!!!!!!!!!! e wan kil us sha, he wan run himself down n not us

@musbaunow

you will never change. So in your mind, average Nigerian per capita income is less than $1? Hmmm. I pity your economics teacher. First, there is nothing like average per capita income. Per Capita Income is already an average. Oya, take your pencil and paper. Time for MTH 101:
in 2006, GDP= $180 billion
in 2006, population= 130 million

$180billion/130million
= $1,385/person
also known as $1,385 per capita.

Even CIA that is always condemning Nigeria, they agree that our per capita income is about $1,400. Which one you dey?

@musbaunow

there is no country in this world where the per capita income is less than $1.

People just don't want to pay tax. If Nigerians were declaring income tax all this extra taxes will not arise.

The issue is not to complain about the VAT. The issue is to complain about VAT being paid on non-value added products.
When a raw material such as ankara material is bought by a designer and made into a dress, value has been added to to that material so the price will change and so government charges value added tax on that income of the designer resulting from adding value to the raw material.

But why should there be value added tax on products like pure water when the water is not bought by the company in the first place, and it is not produced into any new product? Why should Nigeria charge value added tax on a versace dress in which the value was not added in Nigeria? Why should there be value added tax on phone calls? What is the initial product of the phone call, and what value is then added? And the companies do not really complain as they pass on the burden of the tax straight to the consumer, even going one step further to round up the figures and make some extra profit for themselves.

It is okay to say VAT, but only on vatable goods. Am sure they are collecting VAT on flight tickets. Are the planes built in Nigeria? It is even products like Garri, of which value is added by processing from cassava and foods that should be VATted.
Very soon, they will ask me to pay VAT for admiring a beautiful woman.

Anyway, pay VAT where VAT is payable. But do not give to Caesar what does not belong to Caesar.

@ denex
what is per capita income and what is GDP?
do u deny that stats show that the a huge percentage of nigerians (i'm not sure exactly what percentage) lives on less than $1 a day?

Na wá óò but now d fuel is now 617 per liter