A research and survey firm “NOI Polls’’ says 86 per cent of Nigerians buy petrol at an average of N199 per litre. This is even as the nationwide fuel scarcity which surfaced in November last year has continued. Most filling stations in Lagos are without petrol. Among the haves, some are selling at the pump price of N145 per litre while others are selling higher. But investigations by our reporters have shown that most filling stations have adjusted their meters such that a 10-litre volume of petrol is actually about 8.5 litres or less in some cases.

Meanwhile, NOI Polls has revealed in its latest report released in Abuja on Tuesday that Nigerians on the average pay higher than the pump price, adding that the amount was far above the N145 per litre price approved by the Federal Government.

It urged the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) to enforce the petroleum price monitoring mechanism.

It said its finding was in conjunction with the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Petrol Price Watch Report, which revealed that Nigerians bought petrol at an average of N191 per litre in January.

The firm said that the result of the poll, which was conducted on Feb. 5, also highlighted the need for stakeholders in the oil and gas sector, especially the DPR to intensify efforts toward price monitoring exercises.

This, it said would ensure that products allocated to each state of the federation were dispensed to buyers at the official pump price.

The report explained that the first question gauged the proportion of Nigerians, who buy petrol.

According to the report, 72 per cent of Nigerian adults confirmed they buy petrol, either for use in their vehicles or equipment.

The equipment it named includes generators, and grinding machines among others.

It said their responses cuts across gender, geo-political zones and age groups, with each demography having more than 50 per cent of the respondents, indicating that they bought petrol.

“Poll results revealed that most Nigerians representing 56 per cent, buy petrol from Independent Marketer’s filling stations with residents in the South-East having the highest percentage of respondents in this category with 78 per cent representation.

“While 23 per cent mentioned Major Marketers’ filling stations, it is interesting to note that 12 per cent of the respondents buy from black market sellers (street hawkers) and only nine percent indicated that they buy from the NNPC Mega Stations.

“The prevailing price of petrol was also ascertained and results revealed that an overwhelming proportion of about 86 per cent of Nigerians disclosed that they buy petrol above the official price of N145.

“And this assertion cuts across gender, geo-political zones and age groups, with each demography having more than 70 per cent of the respondents indicating that they buy petrol above the official price in their respective region.

“Further analysis revealed that of all the various prices mentioned by respondents, Nigerians buy a litre of petrol for an average price of N199 nationwide.

“Also, residents in the North-West zone pay the highest average price of N221 for a litre of petrol, while respondents resident in the South-West zone pay the lowest average price of N179 per litre.” It said

As a result, the NOI Polls concluded that although petrol scarcity seems to have disappeared, most Nigerians still buy petrol above the official price of N145 per litre and at an average of N199 per litre nationwide.