Fuel

Oil marketers on Thursday said they had escalated their call for an increase in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, to the Federal Government, as the current cost of the commodity was no longer sustainable. Also, PMS transporters confirmed that they had resumed operations in full following last week’s raise in the freight rate being paid by the Federal Government for the transportation of petrol nationwide. Amidst the call for petrol price hike and the full resumption of operations by transporters, the queues by motorists for PMS in Abuja and neighbouring states grew longer on Thursday. The Deputy National President, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Zarma Mustapha, told our correspondent that the Federal Government had been put on notice concerning marketers’ intentions to increase petrol price. “The current pump price is no longer sustainable and we have made this know to the government. However, we must acknowledge the efforts of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited in ensuring product availability,” he stated.