New pricing template for petrol coming —Kachikwu

Following issues of pricing concerns surrounding the actual cost of a litre of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) also called petrol, the Federal Government has said that it is going to review the pricing template for the product.

The Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, who made this disclosure on Friday, however assured Nigerians that the current N145 price of the product would not be changed.

He stated this when he spoke to journalists at the ongoing oil sector stakeholders meeting at the headquarters of the ministry in Abuja, stating that the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) would soon come up with a new pricing template for petrol.

The minister, who insisted that the PPPRA would not tamper with the N145 per litre cost of the product, meanwhile failed to explain how the agency would maintain the current price of petrol at a time government claimed that the landing cost of the product was around N171 per litre.

However, Kachikwu responding to a question, explained that PPPRA was reviewing the areas of the template that had to do with logistics and profit margins for operators, among others.

“PPPRA obviously develops the templates and helps us to monitor importation into the country. The template has always been an issue because as prices change in the international market, some of these templates get question mark.

“There are two lines as regards this template; there is the actual cost of landing the product, on the template, and there are other ancillary charges that deal with logistics, profit margins for the operators and all of that.

“As part of this committee’s work, we are also reviewing that template to see whether there are things we need to do to help us ensure that we can accommodate sales at the N145/litre window. So, that is also going to be looked into. The PPPRA is working on that and is heading a special committee on it,” Kachikwu said.

Asked if independent marketers now have the freedom to sell petrol beyond the regulated rate set by the government, the minister said, “There isn’t a multiple price fixing environment where people can work outside the umbrella of what has been fixed.

“What we approved is a modulation of between N135/litre and N145/litre. I’m aware that as of this morning, some people sold at N143, while most of the stations sold at N145. But some recalcitrant individuals sold above that and that is where the law will go after them. So there isn’t an authorization to sell outside the N135/N145 bracket. Nobody is free to set a price above that.”

Denying any plan by government to increase the current pump price of petrol Kachikwu said, “There was a statement credited to me that said that price might be increased to N180. No such statement was made; no such plan is intended. I need to clarify this because sometimes some of these rumour mongers all add to the difficulties NNPC had in terms of being able to control price speculation.

READ ALSO: Marketers blame hurricane for inability to sustain N145 petrol price, say scarcity due to subsidy halt

“The President’s mandate on this issue is very specific: we are not increasing price from N145. The essence of our meeting (on Thursday) and the essence of the committee meeting still going on, which began few days ago, is to find mechanisms to ensure that fuel queues do not come back to Nigeria.

“It is to also ensure that the product is available at every time for Nigerians; that private marketers who had pulled out from participation, that we deal with their problems so that they can participate effectively in the supply of petroleum products in the country, all within the parameters of N145 per litre pump price.”

Following insinuations in some quarters that the Federal Government has plans to increase petrol pump price, President Muhammadu Buhari, had directed the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) not to allow petrol price go above N145 per litre.

 

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