Fuel price hike imminent as FG mulls subsidy removal

Chinazor Megbolu

There are indications that petroleum products pump price may go up as the Federal Government is considering removal of subsidy.

The Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Mele Kyari during a ministerial briefing on Thursday in Abuja, said the corporation cannot continue to bear the subsidy burden.

He noted that NNPC cannot continue to bear the burden of underpriced sales of premium motor spirit (PMS), known as petrol, hinting that the market price needs to be implemented.

“The price could have been anywhere between N211 and N234 to the litre. The meaning of this is that consumers are not paying for the full value of the PMS that we are consuming and therefore someone is paying that cost.

“As we speak today, the difference is being carried in the books of NNPC and I can confirm to you that NNPC may no longer be in a position to carry that burden,” Kyari said.

He pointed out that the Federal Government is working towards deepening the auto-gas regime as an alternative to petrol.

According to him; “that is why early last year if you recall, the full deregulation of the PMS market was announced and we have followed this through until we got to September when prices shifted to N145.

“As we speak today, I will not say we are in a subsidy regime but we are in a situation where we are trying to exit this subsidy or underpriced sale of PMS until we get in terms with the full value of the product in the market.

“Today, PMS sells across our borders anywhere above N300 at any of our neighbours. And in some places, it is up to N500 and N550 to the litre.

“In some countries, the Nigerian fuel is their primary fuel. We are supplying almost everybody in the West African region, so it is very difficult to continue this because we have our own issues and that is why the eventual exit from this is completely inevitable.

“When that will happen, I do not know. But I know that engagements are going on. The government is very concerned about the natural impact of price increases on transportation and other consumer segments of our society and as soon as those engagements are taken to logical conclusion, I am sure that the market price of PMS will be allowed to play at the right time”.

Recall that recently, speculations were rife that the Federal Government had increased fuel pump price, which the government denied through the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Timipre Sylva.