Residents of Onitsha and its surrounds awoke Thursday to another increase in Premium Motor Spirit, or PMS, also known as fuel, from N700 per litre to between N730 and N750 at several petrol stations in Onitsha and its suburbs.
The current spike follows the closure of all petrol stations in Anambra State on Wednesday, following an alleged meeting of fuel dealers in Awka, the state’s capital, that lasted nearly five hours before they opened their station to the public between 3:30 and 4:00 p.m.
It has been the practice of the state’s petrol station owners to shut down their stations on the pretence of conducting a conference whenever they wish to increase the price of PMS, because no one checks their operations. This invariably results in a rise in the product. There has never been a time when they held a similar gathering and the prize for PMS did not increase.
Petrol
Prior to the Wednesday meeting, which saw the price of PMS rise to between N7:30 and N7:50 per litre on Thursday, the product was selling for N700 per litre, but since their meeting barely two months ago, when the product rose from N660 to N700, people have been getting by with the N700 pump prize, but as if that wasn’t enough, they held their last meeting yesterday and increased the price to N730 to N740 per litre.
