The Federal Government of Nigeria has disregarded reviews of a deliberate hike in gasoline prices. Farouk Ahmed, the Chief Executive Officer of the Midstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, who made this role recognized on Tuesday in Abuja, reassured that there has been no plan to growth the respectable charge of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) as speculated in a few quarters.
Ahmed stated this whilst he fielded questions from State House Correspondents, after he, along Gbenga Komolafe, the newly appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), became formally supplied to President Muhammadu Buhari.
This is coming simply because the federal authorities additionally promised to do some thing drastic regarding the growing fee of cooking fuel oline to relieve the trials of Nigerians, mainly now that the yule season approaches.
NAN reviews that Timipre Sylva, the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, supplied the 2 Chief Executive Officers to the President on the Presidential Villa, Abuja, today.
Ahmed cited that the marginal queues being witnessed at filling stations in Abuja and a few components of Nigeria had not anything to do with any intended plan via way of means of the authorities to hike PMS prices.
He said, “Basically, what happened is that some of the depot owners selling Premium Motor Spirit above the official ex-depot price of N148 are selling at N156 or N157.
“The reason is that they’re paying for their logistics like shipping and Port charges and Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) charges in US dollars and they’ve to go to the parallel market to source for the dollars.
“The differential between the official exchange rate and the parallel market is their reason for adding between N9 and N10.
“But we had a meeting on Tuesday, November 9, and the heads of the Nigeria Ports Authority and NIMASA, as well as other stakeholders, were all there, and it was resolved that NNPC excess capacity vessels would have chattered to oil marketing companies and they would be charging in Naira.
“I believe with these, there’ll be no reason for the depot owners to increase their price beyond the official selling price of N148.”
Also addressing the State House Correspondents, Sylva disclosed that Buhari was happy with the level of implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021.
“He charged us to ensure that we use our best experience to ensure that the industry is on track.
“Luckily for us, we’ve very experienced people on the saddle, both in the authority and the commission, and the President asked us to go ahead and do what’s best in the interest of Nigeria at all times.”
Speaking on the recent increase in the price of cooking gas in the nation, Sylva said, “the President is worried over the situation just like all other Nigerians.”
