FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DENIES PLAN TO INCREASE FUEL PUMP PRICE

He said the landing cost of PMS which was N133.28 per litre in 2016, is now N171 per litre and this has resulted into stoppage of importation of the product by independent marketers, adding that this had made the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to be the 100 per cent importer of the product.

Similarly, he disclosed further that as a result of the N26 difference per litre between the current landing cost of the product (N171) and pump price of N145, NNPC which had been singularly importing the product at the volume of 25million litres per day since October last year, has been incurring a daily loss of about N800-N900million, cumulatively reaching N85.5billion today, in just three months.

Kachikwu emphasized that, government has mandated him and a committee set up, to find ways out of the problem until the local refineries become functional in 18 months’ time,adding that three solutions are being considered.

“One, is for the Central bank of Nigeria (CBN) to allow the marketers access forex at the rate of N204 to a dollar as against the official rate of N305 to keep the pump price of fuel per litre at N145’,the Minister said.

“Two, to give room for modulated deregulation where NNPC would be allowed to continue selling at N145 per litre in all its mega stations across the country while the independent marketers should be allowed to sell at whatever price is profitable to them in all their outlets’, he said.

“Three, to look at the direction of blanket subsidy for all the importers in bridging the gap which would be like going back to a problem that had earlier been solved,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Minister, stressed that the final solution to the problem was for the nation to put her refineries in good shape in a way that 80 per cent of local consumption of the product should be provided for locally.