News
Poor economy: Heavy drop in fuel consumption, as Nigerians groan!
Petrol consumption nationwide has fallen by 28 per cent over the past two years, as pump attendants across filling stations are left with scanty vehicular calls, with latest figures from the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) showing that the daily volume of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly known as petrol, dropped from 68.353 million litres in June 2023, when fuel subsidy was removed, to 49.277 million litres in June 2025.
Vanguard reports that since the coming on stream of the Dangote Refinery, marketers have reviewed prices multiple times, explained that investigations last weekend showed that despite fuel stations across major cities in Nigeria adjusting prices and displaying same, a large number of consumers no longer bother with the price as they make purchase decisions before getting to the fuel station.
It added that such decisions were always based on availability of money and considerations for competing needs in their lives, stating that low patronage and dwindling vehicle presence at the fuel stations, were causing rise in idle time at the stations.
For instance, Ibrahim Gambo, Station Manager at RYBL Services Limited in Karshi, Abuja, was quoted as saying that it now took about two months to sell a single 30,000-litre tanker due to poor patronage, adding: “The market is not moving well. We used to have three pump attendants, but now we keep only one. We cannot pay salaries for three because sales are too low.
‘’Before, people came with jerry cans, but now you hardly see that. Many only buy when they have important and compelling need to drive. Also, people are now using generators at home sparingly.”
In filling stations visited in some parts of Lagos, including Amuwo-Odofin, Apapa, Ajegunle and Orile, independent marketers lamented that sales have dropped significantly, with another attendant, this time at Techno Oil at Alaba Oro, saying: “Within the last two weeks, the price of petrol increased by N50 and dropped N20 few days ago. But one cannot say the business is all that lucrative at the moment.
‘’This is because, prior to deregulation, we had a lot of demand from customers to fill up when cars come to purchase fuel, but the reverse is the case now. Most times, our turnover is very low compared to what was obtainable in the past.”
The situation, however, appeared to be different at retail outlets such as MRS, one the retail partners to the Dangote Refinery and sells petrol at about the lowest price in the country, and Fatgbems at Amuwo, Oshodi/Apapa expressway, and Mile 2 road, respectively which had long queues of cars trying to buy petrol, where the pump price was pegged at N865 per litre, compared to N870 to N890 at other stations.
At the MRS station, an attendant who identified herself simply as Chinenye, said: “We are very grateful for the number of customers and the turnover we are getting. I can tell you for certain that things have turned around for us at MRS, against the regulated period of the downstream.”
Retail outlets visited along Benin-Asaba Road showed a few vehicles being attended to. Vanguard gathered that pump price has also dropped from an average of N950 per litre it sold a week ago, to the current rate of N910 per litre.
In Nasarawa State, checks by Vanguard showed that while most stations operated by independents and major marketers remained largely empty, those operated by MRS, AYM Sharfa and AA Rano had a good number of vehicles, tricycles (Keke) and commercial motor cycles (Okada) in them.
With very few vehicles seen at filling stations visited in Kano, where pump attendants could be seen sitting idle in most of the filing stations, a petrol attendant at Ammasco, Court Road branch, lamented low patronage of customers, explaining that the low patronage has affected their daily sales.
One A. Y. Maikifi, who said sales had dropped drastically due to rise in the pump price of the product, added: “You can’t compare sales two years ago with now. We recorded more sales in the past than now. The increase in the price of fuel is the major factor for the low patronage.’’
In Kaduna, attendants across the stations visited by Vanguard disclosed that sales had improved slightly compared to recent weeks, as motorists were returning to the pumps. However, they observed that sales volumes remained lower than they were two years ago, largely due to fewer vehicles on the roads and the increasing shift to Compressed Natural Gas, CNG, by some vehicle owners.
The gloomy picture at petrol stations contrasts sharply with the growing demand for Compressed Natural Gas, CNG.
Across the FCT, long queues were seen at CNG outlets, where prices range from N230 to N235 per kilogram, far lower than petrol.
At the NNPC CNG retail station in Wuse Zone 2, a Bolt driver, Onyebuchi Okeke, told Vanguard he had already spent an hour on the queue but noted that the waiting was worth it.
“I really don’t mind the time because it is by far cheaper than petrol. I have a 10kg cylinder and it costs just N2,300 to fill. I will work with it for about four hours and make over N10,000. So, I will be here until it’s my turn. I have about half a tank of petrol in my car. It has been there for about two weeks. If there is need to use it, I will,” he stated.
He disclosed that he hardly goes to filling stations to buy, adding that “since I got my car converted to CNG, I don’t go to petrol stations often. It is once in a while.”
The report, quoted Chinedu Ukadike, spokesman for the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), as saying it was a trying time for independent marketers, while attributing the drop to the increase in the price of the product, vehicle conversions to CNG and the general hike in the cost of living in the country.
Stressing that the drop in consumers volume could partly be due to reduction in the volumes smuggled across Nigeria’s borders to neighbouring countries due to removal of subsidies in Nigeria, he said: “The issue of smuggling has dropped drastically. Movement across the borders have dropped because the removal of subsidies means that neighbouring countries which have been benefiting from low prices in Nigeria are no longer able to do so.
“Secondly, many vehicles have been converted to CNG because it is cheaper. I am sure you have noticed the length of queues at the CNG stations. It is far cheaper and makes more economic sense. In fact, if the presidential committee on CNG continues to work at the rate they are doing, by this time next year, petrol supply will drop by half of what NMDPRA has declared.
“Thirdly, small scale industries are also converting to gas usage. All these have made the petrol supply business not as lucrative as it used to be. The cost in petrol price has also moderated the pocket of Nigerians. Since the removal of subsidies, many car owners have dropped cars and now use commercial vehicles. Also a lot of people now use commercial motor bikes to pick up items or parcels, rather than drive to pick them.”
On the impact of the drop in consumption on their business, Ukadike said: “It is actually a trying time for marketers. The return on investment is now very small. For most, the turnover is not more than one truck per month, for some it is one truck in two months.
“This is why we have been asking government to intervene so that independent marketers do not go out of business. With the way things are going, independent marketers will go into extinction by 2028.”
Henry Adigun, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) AHA Consultancies, while enhancing the belief by experts that frequent price changes were unhealthy for sector, was quoted as saying that for the sector to attract the needed investment, there had to be more certainty in the downstream sector.
“The downstream market should be driven by competition. The market must be fair, must be seen to be fair, must be well regulated and must provide benefits for consumers. When there is competition in any market, the consumers benefit.
“The Dangote Refinery is a state-of-the-art facility and there is no other in the country that can compete with it. That is why government has continued to allow importation of petrol. That is the only way to provide competition, for now. Competition ensures that there is no monopoly and price gorging.
“The frequent changes in price is leading to a lot of losses in the market, and this will affect the capacity of marketers to pay back money loaned secured from banks to purchase the product.”
Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Governor of Oyo State, on Thursday, finally threw his hats into the ring by declaring his intention to run for president in 2027, with a message – history beckons.
The governor, whose ambition has been a matter of speculations for months now and who had teamed up with forces angling to force President Bola Tinubu, out of power, told a teeming crowd in Ibadan on Thursday that time had come to reset Nigeria.
At a mega-rally to announce the alliance between the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and the Allied Peoples’ Movement, (APM), Makinde, expressed worry over the dwindling fortunes of Nigerians, vowing to engage Nigerians to end the drift.
Hear him: “Without a multi-party system, there is no democracy. Where is our multi-party? Where do we go from here? We have been pushed to the wall.
“They calculated and self-opposition cannot unite but I am here to say that the opposition is the everyday Nigerian. This is the time for all us to ensure Nigeria works for us. This is the time to confront it fears. It is time to engage as citizens and not spectators.
“For the opposition political parties, this is the time to unite and work in unity and give our nation the much reset it needs. The time to reset Nigeria is now. Ibadan is the city of warriors. The first grand alliance is formed. The PDP and APM is formed. This handshake will allow us to field candidates from presidency to state Assembly. And so, I declare my candidacy for office of the president of Nigeria.”
Eyo Ekpe, a professor of cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH), on Wednesday, gave a detailed account on how operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) manhandled him on Monday.
He told reporters that he was at sea on why he should fall victim to the assault against his person and eventually arrested given that was not right person directly involved in the information the agency sought.
Some operatives of the EFCC who invaded the hospital, had whisked Ekpe away after firing teargas to scare away the workers, patients and visitors to the hospital, following what appeared like a fracas the ensued over what it claimed was a routine duty in the facility.
Ekpe, Deputy Chairman of the hospital’s Medical Advisory Committee (MAC), described how an operative had first entered his office to make inquiries on why the hospital was yet to give a response to an EFCC inquiry over a medical report linked to a suspect facing trial.
He detailed how he briefed the operative that the said response was being prepared and even went ahead to show him the draft of a letter in that regard, which needed to go through the gamut of official endorsement before being released.
Hear him: “The head of that internal medicine department looked at the report and also discovered that the name of the doctor that signed the report is not a member of staff of that department.
“I had prepared prepared a response to the EFCC on Monday, May 11, 2026, based on the findings. When the EFCC operative visited my office the next morning to collect the document, I told him that the response was ready in draft. I even showed him the draft, but told him that the document still needed approval from the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the hospital before it could be officially signed and released.
“He pretended to have accepted that. He left, but later later returned with another armed operative and informed me that I was under arrest. I asked him why. I was not the one that issued the medical report. My name is not on the medical report. The report was not issued from my unit.
“But he said I would get the answer when I get to their office. I then asked him to at least wait for my staff member who I sent on an errand before joining them. But they refused.
“They started pushing me. They dragged me out of the office. Then I began to cry while they were dragging me. They had warned me not to speak. They had taken my phone. My cry as they were dragging me, attracted the workers to the scene, who enquired what was going on, but because they ordered me not to speak, I couldn’t say anything. They had their guns.
The members of staff of the hospital initially blocked them from taking me away. They then made a call. After that I saw many masked and armed men came violently, broke the protector, threatening the people that were around and people ran away.
“They picked some staff that were still by me. they dragged me and other staff, five of us into their van downstairs. By that time they discovered that the gate of the hospital were locked. So, they drove towards the gate and packed and the commotion continued. We were inside the van.
“I was so emotionally and psychologically traumatised that I couldn’t even look out of the vehicle to see what was happening outside. But I know that teargas and live bullets were shot. That’s all I can say for now.”
Joyce Abdulmalik, of the Federal High Court, Abuja, heard on Wednesday, how Zenith Bank raised alarm over the huge transaction in one of its branches by Abubakar Malami, former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice (AGF-MoJ).
The bank said it immediately filed a Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) in respect to the transactions, during its appearance in the ongoing trial of Malami, his wife, and son over allegation of massive looting of funds belonging to the Federal Government during his tenure.
Mashelia Bata, a compliance officer with the bank, who appeared as witness in the case, where Malami, et al, are facing a 16-count charge bordering on alleged money laundering to the tune of N8.7 billion, to which they pleaded not guilty, gave the testimony while being questioned on the bank’s roles in the matter.
Details of the testimony conveyed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), stated how the compliance officer who was cross-examined by Adebayo Adedeji, lawyer to the defendants admitted that the deposits in the account statements complied with the guidelines of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Arguments had stretched when Adedeji, opposed Jibrin Okutepa (SAN), lawyer to the EFCC, who had asked the witness to explain the meaning of a suspicious transaction report, stressing that there was no ambiguity in the term.
However, Okutepa, in response, maintained that section 215(3) of the Evidence Act did not preclude him from re-examining the witness while urging the court to allow the question for proper explanation.
After Abdulmalik, agreed and overruled Adedeji, the witness told the court that banks were required to alert the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) about fund deposits coming in a repetitive pattern, adding: “Any deposition of funds seen in a pattern or repetitive, you must escalate it to the NFIU.”
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