Petrol to sell below N100 soon, says FG

Chinazor Megbolu

The Federal Government has disclosed that petrol would soon be sold below N100 anytime soon.

The Federal Government at the weekend noted that Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) price would soon crash relatively below N100 per litre as a result of its ongoing effort to regularize the activities of local refiners.

The Special Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Ita Enang during a meeting with the Domestic Refinery Owners Association of Nigeria (DROAN) in Abuja hinted the government is partnering with Indigenous refiners into the mainstream petroleum production towards enabling the citizenry afford the product at the cheaper price.

“So what Nigerians are actually paying for is not the real cost of the product, it is the services, and by the time we engage with you, and we are able to have the domestic Nigerian Refinery, all those other charges will be eliminated and like you have been telling me, the price of refined petroleum products will come under N100 per litre,” he said.

Enang noted that once the local refineries begin to operate, the price of petroleum products would crash unhindered.

He maintained that the actual reason why the prices are high is because the process of extracting, exporting, refining and bringing it back to Nigeria is very cumbersome and expensive.

According to him; “as we succeed with you, which I believe that we will succeed, we will eliminate and be able to crash the price of refined petroleum product because what makes refined petroleum products costly is one, the cost of freight, sending it abroad to be refined, you pay Port Authority, you pay Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), you pay for the charter of the vessels that take it there.

“You pay the duties in Nigeria, you pay the duties in the country that it is landing, you pay the duty of those countries, you pay the labour of those countries where they refined and then you bring them back, you pay the freight, you pay the vessel if it is not landing early and it is hanging somewhere in the sea, and all that is transferred to the price of the refined products.

“And finally you’ll now see that Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) will put their price, Petroleum Product Price Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), Department of Petroleum Product (DPR), will put their price”.

Enang, however, noted that subsidy payment wasn’t beneficial to common Nigeria citizenry, but just a few corrupt individuals.

He buttressed the aforementioned was the reason the Federal Government had to remove it as a necessity.

“As we were locked down, the price of crude oil collapsed, I think it led consequently to the lowering of the price of refined product and I think we relaxed and we thought we have ended it now suddenly the price went up.

“We said look, we no more can sustain subsidy in this country because subsidy only benefits a corrupt set of people and it doesn’t really touch the ordinary man.

“And having withdrawn subsidy it becomes that refiners of the petroleum product must sell it at a market-driven price, and the price went up, therefore, it becomes necessary for us to accelerate our engagement with you as our Nigerian resources to solve Nigeria’s economic problem.”

“We have also engaged with the team in Federal University of Petroleum, Efurum, Delta State, they have a department that is fabricating locally, Nigeria Refinery, which will produce and refine petrol diesel, kerosene and make other byproducts available for other institutions.

“So since after the last meeting, these are the things that we’ve done to take the ministry forward, so it became necessary to have to invite you one, to brief you on what we’ve done, that although we were on National lockdown, we were not locked up in terms of thinking and planning for the economy,” Enang said.