In January 2023, Southern Nigerians paid more per litre of fuel than Northern Nigerians

Nigerians in the Southern part of the country paid higher fuel prices than those in the Northern part in January 2023. This is according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday.

The Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) January 2023 report by the NBS revealed that the average price of fuel was N257.12 per litre, which indicates a 54.52% increase relative to N166.40 per litre recorded in January 2022.

When compared to the N206.19 per litre recorded in December 2022, the average retail price increased by 24.70% month-on-month.

Highest and lowest prices: According to the data, Imo state residents paid N332.14 per litre, Rivers state residents paid N327.14 per litre and Akwa Ibom residents paid N319 per litre. Meanwhile, Nigerians in Sokoto state paid N191.43, Plateau residents paid N192.14 per litre and Borno residents paid N193.91 per litre.

Prices across zones: The data also showed prices for various geopolitical zones as follows: North Central – N217.15 per litre, North West – N256.10 per litre, North East – N232.33 per litre, South East – N307.85 per litre, South West – N250.80 per litre, South-South – N293.76 per litre.

The fuel situation in January: In January 2023, Nigerians were still experiencing lingering fuel scarcity on a national scale, especially in major cities like Port Harcourt, Abuja, and Lagos.

Nairametrics previously reported that the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Mele Kyari, maintained that the fuel crises Nigerians battled at the time, was more of a distribution problem.

According to Mr Kyari, the NNPC was supplying fuel to the country regularly. However, the issue of arbitrage plagued the distribution process. He said some market stakeholders were also involved in cross-border smuggling from which they would make more profits because fuel sold for higher prices than the regulated prices in Nigerian filling stations.

However, in February 2023, the fuel crises (scarcity and cost issues) have become less of an issue, especially the scarcity aspect because the NNPC has consistently delivered over 400 million litres of fuel every week to meet up with demand across the country.