Petrol Consumption Drop By 28%
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.
Latest figures from the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) show 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.
President Bola Tinubu had, in his May 29, 2023 inauguration address, declared “subsidy is gone,” ending decades of subsidy payments that had cost the government tens of trillions of naira.
Following the announcement, NNPC Limited raised the pump price from N195 per litre to N448 in Lagos and from N197 to N557 in Abuja. Less than a month later, prices rose again to N617 per litre.
Since then and with the coming on stream of the Dangote Refinery, marketers have reviewed prices a multiple times, in some cases weekly.
Checks last weekend showed that fuel stations across major cities in Nigeria have just effected another round of adjustment.
However, despite conspicuous display of the prices, a large number of consumers no longer bother with the price as they make purchase decisions before getting to the fuel station and their decisions are always based on availability of money and considerations for competing needs in their lives.
This, according to attendants in many fuel stations, may have caused low patronage and dwindling vehicle presence at the fuel stations, causing rise in idle time at the stations.
Station Manager at RYBL Services Limited in Karshi, Abuja, Ibrahim Gambo, said that it now takes about two months to sell a single 30,000-litre tanker due to poor patronage.
“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,” he lamented.
In filling stations visited in some parts of Lagos, including Amuwo-Odofin, Apapa, Ajegunle and Orile, independent marketers lamented that sales have dropped significantly.
An attendant at Techno Oil at Alaba Oro, said that “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 and Fatgbems at Amuwo, Oshodi/Apapa expressway, and Mile 2 road, respectively which had long queues of cars trying to buy petrol.
MRS is one the retail partners to the Dangote Refinery and sells petrol at about the lowest price in the country.
Checks showed that pump price at MRS has dropped to 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.”
In Asaba, Delta State, the situation also remained the same at filling stations across the state capital.
Retail outlets visited along Benin-Asaba Road showed a few vehicles being attended to. 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 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.
AA Rano’s Ado Station Manager, Munir Ibrahim, said the increased number of vehicles compared to other stations was “due to our lower price”.
In Kano, the situation was not different as very few vehicles were seen at filling stations visited by our correspondent. Pump attendants could be seen sitting idle in most of the filing stations.
However, a petrol attendant at Ammasco, Court Road branch, also lamented low patronage of customers, explaining that the low patronage has affected their daily sales.
On his part, A. Y. Maikifi, said sales have dropped drastically due to rise in the pump price of the product.
“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,’’ he said.
While noting that in the past week pump price had dropped from N950 per litre to N900, he expressed the hope that sales would start to pick up if it was sustained for a longer period.