NBS: Petrol actually sold for N163/litre in April

Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) sold for an average of N163 per litre in April, 2016, the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed.

Though the official price for petrol was N86.50 per litre during the month, the bureau said Nigerians actually bought the product for N162.82.

In its petrol price watch report for April, NBS said petrol price was highest in Imo state, where it sold for N203.48 per litre.

Lagos state was the only place in the country where petrol sold for less than three digits, with Lagosians buying at an average of N92.59 per litre – the closest to the official price.

The report also revealed that the average pump price of petrol rose by N56.36 from its actually purchase price in April 2015.

On a month-to-month basis, the price rose by N20 on the average, across the nation.

At the heart of the nation’s seat of power, Abuja, petrol sold for N107 in April, the report adds.

According to the NBS, in Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno and Cross River petrol sold at N192, N139, N180, N194, N129, N186, N135, N179 and N168 respectively.

Nigerians also bought at N178, N166, N194, N203, N178, N182, N170, N146 and N165, in Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna and Kano respectively.

Other states of the federation sold the same commodity between N113 and N193 per litre.

These prices are expected to soar in May, following the official hike in petrol prices to N145 per litre, the largest single leap in over two decades.