Financial analyst and Chief Economist at SPM Professionals, Paul Alaje, has said that the price of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) may drop to between N650 and N800 per litre if the price war or competition between Dangote Refinery and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, continues.
Alaje, speaking in a Channels Television interview on Tuesday, monitored by DAILY POST, noted that there would be risks if the price war between Dangote Refinery and NNPCL fails to continue.
He was reacting to the recent petrol price reduction by both NNPCL and Dangote Refinery.
According to him, the coexistence of Dangote Refinery and NNPCL in their current form benefits Nigerians.
He warned that the collapse of either NNPCL or Dangote Refinery would pose a serious threat to Nigerians and stressed the need for more refineries in Nigeria to boost competition.
“If there is more competition, because of the interest of capitalists to make a profit, eventually they will continue to reduce petrol prices if they don’t agree. Nigerians should be happy with their non-agreement. Once there is an agreement, they can fix prices. The truth is that you and I may have no option.
“In the beginning, when you have two major giants, Dangote and NNPCL, all of these are important. The danger is that if NNPCL fizzles out, you face a pure capitalist, and you don’t want to know the implication. If it is Dangote Refinery that stops, you are back to Egypt. We need to have more players in the market.
“We, in fact, want more of the competition to go on because this is the consequence of deregulation. I should be buying fuel between N650, N750, and N800 per litre. But if any of them fizzles out, be ready to buy at over N1000 per litre again,” he said.
We reported that the latest petrol price drop by NNPCL and Dangote Refinery has sparked a fresh price war in Nigeria.
