The price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) which is popularly referred to as petrol, is set to skyrocket again at the pumps for the third time in three months.

The Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), disclosed in an internal memo that the ex-depot price of petrol has gone up, which will translate to the pump price of the product going up as well.

The ex-depot price is the price at which the product is sold by the PPMC to marketers at the depots.

“The implication of the increase in the ex-depot price is that there is going to be an increase in the pump price. We are expecting the pump price to range from N168 to N170 per litre," the National Operation Controller, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mike Osatuyi, told Punch.

The price of petrol went from N138/liter to N151/liter in September and then to N161/liter afterwards.

Deregulation

The Nigerian government has fully deregulated the petroleum downstream sector, which means that the price of the product at the pumps will be determined by market forces and the international market, the presidency has said over and over again.

President Muhammadu Buhari has reiterated that his administration can no longer afford to pay for petrol subsidies because government revenues have dipped by more than 60 percent.

“There is no provision for fuel subsidy in the revised 2020 budget, simply because we are not able to afford it, if reasonable provisions must be made for health, education and other social services. We simply cannot sustain petroleum subsidy,” the president said in September.