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Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals FZE has disclosed plans to drive a more uniform petrol price across Nigeria by absorbing part of the transportation cost involved in distributing products from its Lekki refinery to different parts of the country.
The latest initiative comes amid continuing concerns over regional price disparities and the cost of transporting petrol from coastal supply points to distant markets in northern Nigeria.
Vice President of Dangote Petroleum Refinery, Mr Edwin Devakumar, disclosed this at a media interaction with senior editors at the refinery complex on Friday.
He said the company was deploying additional trucks and subsidising transportation to ensure that motorists in different parts of the country are not subjected to wide variations in petrol prices because of their location.
Devakumar said the initiative was aimed at taking Dangote’s products to all parts of the country while reducing the logistics burden associated with moving petrol over long distances.
According to him, the company was seeking to create a situation where the price of petrol would be broadly the same whether a customer was buying in Sokoto, Kano, Calabar or other parts of the country.
He said: “We are now actually trying to equalise the price, whether you want to buy in Sokoto, whether you want to buy in Kano or buy in Calabar. The price should be the same.
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“That is why we brought all these trucks, so we can even subsidise the transport and ensure that there is a uniform price and distribution throughout the country.”
The Dangote executive said the impact of the initiative was already being felt, adding that the company was working to deepen its reach across the country.
“One thing is, we are even trying to make it further impact by taking the products all over the country and solving the transportation cost,” he said.
Devakumar also argued that Nigeria’s petrol prices remained relatively low compared with those in neighbouring countries, including countries along the West African coast.
He said the disparity in petrol prices across the region had become evident amid the current crisis in coastal countries, stressing that Nigeria’s domestic pricing had continued to compare favourably with that of its neighbours.
By targeting transportation costs, he said Dangote is seeking to address one of the key factors behind the wide geographical differences in pump prices, particularly between Lagos and far-flung markets in the North.
