The Federal Government of Nigeria
has dismissed reports of a planned hike in fuel prices.
Farouk Ahmed, the Chief Executive
Officer of the Midstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, who made this position
known on Tuesday in Abuja, reassured that there was no plan to increase the
official price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) as speculated in some quarters.
Ahmed said this when he fielded
questions from State House Correspondents, after he, alongside Gbenga Komolafe,
the newly appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum
Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), was officially presented to President Muhammadu
Buhari.
This is coming just as the federal government also promised to do something drastic concerning the rising cost of cooking gas to alleviate the pains of Nigerians, especially now that the yuletide season approaches.
NAN reports that Timipre Sylva,
the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, presented the two Chief Executive
Officers to the President at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, today.
Ahmed noted that the marginal
queues being witnessed at filling stations in Abuja and some parts of Nigeria
had nothing to do with any supposed plan by the government 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.”
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