I didn’t instruct NNPCL to fix price at N1,000, says Minister of State, Petroleum Resources
By Clement Omanibe
Nigerians were jolted into another season of pains, worries and frustration yesterday, following another increase in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) also known as petrol.
The prices which used to be N568 and N617 per litre in Lagos and Abuja have been increased to N855 and N897 by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
With the development, scores of Nigerians are worried that the hike would further jeopardize their wellbeing which has been at stake in the wake of the perennial hardship and hunger orchestrated by the fuel crisis.
On Tuesdays in different parts of Abuja, there were long queues of vehicles at fuel stations. Motorists spend days and nights at stations to buy the product due to scarcity and price hikes.
Black marketers who stationed themselves along the roads are working they situation as they make brisk business by selling at more than N2,000 per litre.
The situation worsened on Tuesday as commuters were stranded at various bus stops as only a few commercial vehicles plied the roads.
Many of them scrambled for the few available vehicles to and from their destinations.
D’GalleryTV checks have revealed that earlier on Wednesday most petrol stations in Lagos and Abuja hoarded the product, waiting for a directive to increase their pump prices which worsened the scarcity crisis.
Determined to justify the increase in the product’s price, NNPLC had, within the week, issued a statement that it was facing difficulties in guaranteeing fuel supply in the country due to its indebtedness to marketers and bankruptcy on the part of the company.
Earlier, the NNPC Retail Management had approved an upward review of the pump price with effect from September 3.
The company’s retail stations have also adjusted their pumps and totems (price boards) to reflect the new PMS price of N897 against N617 per litre, while independent marketers are selling between N930 and N1,200.
Nigerians lament
Muhammed Garba, an Abuja-based motorist who condemned the price hike, described it as carelessness and wickedness on the part of the government. He expressed worries that the development would continue to worsen the hardship that Nigerians are currently passing through.
“How do they want us to survive the situation? We are sleeping at fuel station to buy fuel. We are at the mercy of black marketers who sell the fuel above the official price. Some of them even sell one litre at N2,000. They said Dangote Refinery will provide solution. They have also been promising that Warri Refinery and Port Harcourt Refinery will work and fuel scarcity and cost will be over. But we have not seen anything. All we are seeing is continual scarcity and increase in fuel price?
“NNPC is the sole importer of petroleum and they have refused to make refinery work. Nigerians should rise and save this country from collapse,” he said.
An Abuja-based civil servant, Habeeb Mahmoud said: “The situation has continued to worsen. When shall be come out of this crisis? Many of us working as civil servant can no longer come to work on daily basis due to high transport fares. Some of us stay in the office for three days and go home for two days to observe off-duty. Many people run shifts to save transport fares.
Another commuter, Juliet Okonkwo, said: “When people get to bus stop, they struggle to get vehicles because only few of them ply the roads due to fuel scarcity and high price. Sometimes people and stranded and can’t get to their destinations. I have been facing the difficulty on daily basis. The whole thing don tire me.”
Former DG of Lagos Centre of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) and CEO of Centre for Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE), Muda Yusuf said that the fuel crisis is tricky and difficult for both the Federal Government and the NNPCL to manage especially due to distribution challenges occasioned by poor conditions of pipelines and the rail system.
He, however, called on the government to roll out other energy solutions such as solar power, NPG CNG and others for fuel consumers to have options and move away from fossil oil.
“The reality is that, this is a very difficult situation for the government and also for the NNPCL. I hope as citizens, we need to show some understanding at this time. It’s a very tricky situation. Even now as we speak, at the price of N650 and N700 per liter, government was incurring a subsidy price of almost N500 per litre. If we had continued on that trajectory, at the end of the year, the subsidy bill the government will be incurring will be close to 8-10 trillion naira.”
The fact is that this is not sustainable.
.
The subsidy bill has risen to such a level. Firstly, because of the depreciation of the currency,
all petroleum products being consumed are imported. Secondly, because the relative price between the domestic price and price in the sub-region and especially our neighbouring countries has widened considerably.
“Petrol cost per litre in our neighbouring countries is between N1,300 and N1,500 equivalent per litre. So, you can imagine the penchant for smuggling and there’s always so much for those policing the border can do because we have very wide borders. We have coastal waters through which people can smuggle this item. It’s extremely very difficult to police. So, we are not only subsidizing those that are Nigerians’ we are subsidizing the entire subregion even up to the Central Africa Republic. So, that’s the dilemma that the government is faced with.
” Even with the price of N800+ there’s still an element of subsidy. I am sure this administration has been doing its best not to allow this price to increase. But I think it has stretched itself to the limit in terms of what can be physically accommodated. So, I think that’s what has led to this situation. We all listened to the admission of NNPC, that’s even owing suppliers. So, we are almost on the verge of bankruptcy as a result of this fuel issue.
“I know, it’s not palatable for those of us that are citizens because most of us have been pushed to the limit because of the cost of living and operation, but this is a very difficult decision the government needs to make.
” My only hope is that, with the coming on board of the Dangote Refinery and possibly other domestic refineries, we’ll be able to manage the situation better, at least not to allow the price go beyond what has been put forward and if the situation improves, maybe the price will be further moderated.
“But in the main time, I think government needs to roll out some physical policies to make it easy for citizens to transit to other forms of energy such as use of CNG, use of NPG, use of renewable energy solutions such as solar power, wind power. We should roll out incentives that will make it easy for citizens to move on to the other energy solutions so that we can have choices.
“We are too dependent on this fossil fuel. If we have a choice, it will be easier to manage this situation to make it easy for people to convert their vehicles with the use of other energy solutions. Government needs to subsidize those accessories, those energy sources so that more of us can move away from this fossil fuel, PMS and diesel.
“That for me is the way to go. But from what I can see, the government doesn’t have more choices in this matter. This is in addition to the challenges of logistics of distribution. That’s what’s also compounding the problem. For instance, you have fuel landing in Lagos, how do you distribute it across the country? It’s very expensive because pipelines are not working, the rail system has collapsed and all these are legacy problems.
“Although it’s very easy to put the blame on this administration. If the pipelines are working, you can imagine the level of impact it will have on this country. But you put this products on the road, one week, two weeks, they are still on the roads to their destinations.
“Of course, for the private sector, this is not palatable because cost of transportation and living will further go up. But I must say, this is a very difficult situation to manage.
I didn’t instruct NNPCL to fix price at N1,000 -Minister of State, Petroleum Resources
Meanwhile, the Minister of State Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, said that no directive was issued to the NNPCL to increase petroleum price to N1,000.
In a statement issued yesterday by his Special Adviser, Media, and Communication, Nnemaka Okafor, Lokpobiri said he did not direct the NNPCL or any other entity within the sector to manipulate prices.
“The Federal Government has been compelled to address the falsehood and malicious claims circulating on social media. We categorically condemn these claims as baseless, malicious and a deliberate attempt to incite public discontent,” he said.
“We challenge anyone in possession of any evidence, written documents, audio, or video recordings that support these fabrications to make it public. Such a claim is entirely devoid of truth and should be recognised as an intentional effort to mislead the public,” he said.
He stressed that NNPC Ltd. operates independently under the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA), with a fully empowered Board of Directors. The Ministry of Petroleum Resources does not and will not interfere in NNPCL’s internal decisions, including pricing matters.
“Any suggestion otherwise is not only incorrect but also reveals a profound misunderstanding of the deregulated nature of Nigeria’s petroleum sector,” he said.
