Chineme Okafor in Abuja
An opinion poll released by a public perception statistics firm, NOIPolls, has shown that a vast majority of Nigerians, about 85 per cent bought petrol in April above the official pump price of 86.50 and at an average pump price of 176 per litre.
The poll also stated that the North-east and South-east geopolitical regions of the country recorded the highest average prices of N199 and N194 per litre respectively.
The poll was undertaken to measure the challenges Nigerians have had to go through to get petrol in the last couple of months that petrol scarcity has persisted.
It said in addition that among the 85 per cent of the citizen who bought petrol above the approved pump price of 86.50, almost six in 10, about 59 per cent of the respondents in its polls bought the product between 150 and 250 per litre.
A statement from the polls agency yesterday in Abuja said 50 per cent of its respondents in the exercise bought petrol from stations owned by independent marketer, while 24 per cent bought from major marketers’ filling stations, and 14 per cent from black marketers, leaving only 12 per cent who said they bought from stations operated by Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
The poll also revealed that 73 per cent of respondents use petrol to power their generating sets, thus highlighting the use of petrol to meet energy demands resulting from poor power supply.
Similarly, 58 per cent of its respondents use petrol to power their cars and 28 per cent use petrol to power tricycles and motorcycles popularly known as Keke and Okada.
According to the statement, the poll highlighted the mixed opinions expressed by Nigerians on the issue of petrol subsidy, with 48 per cent saying they support subsidy removal, while 52 per cent say they do not support the removal.
It explained that the opinion poll was conducted in the week of April 25, 2016 and involved telephone interviews of a random nationwide sample.
According to it, 1,000 randomly selected phone-owning Nigerians aged 18 years and above, representing the six geopolitical zones in the country, were interviewed
It added: “With a sample of this size, we can say with 95 per cent confidence that the results obtained are statistically precise – within a range of plus or minus three per cent.”
