TheCable

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says Enugu, Ebonyi and Cross River states paid the highest amount for premium motor spirit (PMS), better known as petrol, in March 2022.

The average petrol price during the month under review is N185.30per litre.

The NBS said this in its latest PMS price watch report for March 2022, released on Wednesday.

Despite regulation of petroleum prices and the huge cost of subsidy for the product, some states pay as high as N50 extra.

In 2021, petrol subsidy payments gulped N1.43 trillion, shrinking revenue accrued to the federation account to N542 billion — a shortfall from the projected N2.51 trillion. This year, the national assembly approved the request of President Muhammadu Buhari to earmark N4 trillion for petrol subsidy in 2022.

According to the report, the average retail price paid by consumers for petrol increased to N185.30 in March 2022, indicating a 7.31 per cent increase compared to the value recorded in March 2021 (N172.68).

The value also increased on a month-on-month basis from N170.42 in February 2022, showing an increase of 8.73 per cent compared to the average retail price paid by consumers in March 2022.

“On state profile analysis, the highest average retail price for Premium Motor Spirit (Petrol) was recorded in Enugu with N218.33 followed by Ebonyi and Cross River with N215.00 and N214.41 respectively,” the report reads.

“On the other hand, states with the lowest average retail price for Petrol were Jigawa, Benue and Nassarawa with N165.71, N165.50 and N165.45 respectively.”

Across the geopolitical zones, the report showed that the highest average retail price was recorded in the South-east zone with N210.846 while the North-Central had the least average retail price with N168.40.

On the other hand, according to the Diesel Price Watch report, the average price paid by consumers for diesel increased by 129.10 per cent year-on-year from N235.41 per litre in March 2021 to N539.32 per litre in March 2022.

On a month-on-month basis, the average retail price increased by 72.87 per cent.

On state profile analysis, the state with the highest average price for diesel in March 2022 was Ekiti with N672.14, followed by Lagos and Abia with N668.75 and N645.00, respectively. 

According to the report, the lowest average price was recorded in Bauchi with N408, Borno (N432) and Yobe (N412) per litre.

In addition, zone analysis shows that the average price of diesel was highest in south-west with N619.11 while north-east had the lowest price with N450.17.