Success Nwogu 
Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MO- MAN) yesterday said the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) otherwise known as petrol will not rise to N700 in the northern part of Nigeria and N600 in Lagos soon.
The National Controller Operations, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Mike Osatuyi, was quoted by a section of the media to have said that petrol pump price could rise to above N700 in the north once independent marketers start importing products from July.
He said while those living in the northern states could pay as much as N700 and above for one litre of petrol, those outside Lagos should expect to pay around N610, as residents in Lagos would pay about N600 per litre. “What I am seeing is around N600 and above, depending on the exchange rate, the current crude price at the international market and the landing cost.
Those in Lagos will pay around N600, those outside Lagos around N600 plus, while those in the north would be paying anything from N700 and above,” he said. But the Executive Secretary of MOMAN, Mr Clement Isong, in an interview with New Telegraph, yesterday said he did not foresee such a situation.
He explained that market forces would prevail with the unification of the foreign exchange to the naira and with more market- ers importing petrol than only the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL). He noted that though the exchange rate had risen, the price of crude oil has also gone down and so there is a balance.
He urged Nigerians to conserve their petrol and adapt to the current high cost of petrol occasioned by the removal of fuel subsidy by the Federal Government under President Bola Tinubu. Isong said: “On whether the pump price of petrol will rise to N700 in the north and about N600 in Lagos, I do not think so.
Not immediately. Not by my calculations. Not in the immediate time except something else happens. “With market forces being in operation, it will go up and come down. It is true that the exchange rate has gone up. It is also true that the price of crude oil has come down and the international price has also come down.
That balances itself. However, market forces mean it can go up and come down. “People should try to conserve petrol. People should adapt their lifestyles. They should conserve fuel. They should adapt to it and together we will get over it and we as a country.”
