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The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, and Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Maikanti Baru, said, yesterday, there was no plan by the Federal Government to hike the price of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, otherwise known as petrol.
The declaration came on a day Acting Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, Mrs. Sotonye Iyoyo, dismissed calls by former NNPC GMDs that the price of petrol be increased, stressing that the downstream segment of the petroleum industry had already been liberalised.
She also noted that the call of the former NNPC bosses was their personal opinion, which had no bearing on the agency’s price template. The clarification of the minister, NNPC and PPPRA came against the backdrop of calls by former Group Managing Directors of the NNPC that the price of the product be hiked from its present rate of N145 per litre to enable the corporation generate more funds.
But Senate Spokesman, Abdullahi Aliyu Sabi, yesterday, warned proponents of the new increment in pump price of fuel, saying they must not take the patience of Nigerians over current economic situation in the country for granted.
Organised Labour also warned against any further increase in the pump price of fuel, saying it would be total madness to do so as it would be totally unacceptable. Speaking separately after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, yesterday, both Kachikwu and Baru said there was no proposal before the government.ibe-kachikwu Baru, who was first to emerge from the meeting with the President, told State House correspondents, who pressed him for comments, to contact the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, for clarifications.
But pressed further to speak as he was exiting the Villa, he simply said “there is nothing like that.” On his part, Kachikwu first directed reporters back to the GMD NNPC for answers but told that the GMD was mute on the matter, he said that there was no plan to review the price.
“There is no memo to that effect, wait for the GMD,” Kachikwu said. Speaking on the development in Abuja, Iyoyo said the calls by the former NNPC GMDs was only a recommendation which was not binding on the agency. She stated further that the call was the personal opinion of the former GMDs, noting that the federal government was not planning any fuel price increase in the coming days.
Also speaking on the issue, Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Department of the NNPC, Mr. Muhammad Garba-Deen, in an interview with Vanguard in Abuja, said the corporation didn’t have the mandate to determine the price of PMS.
Former GMDs’ opinions, solely theirs —NNPC Garba-Deen disclosed that the meeting in which the call was made was a consultative forum, adding that the fact that the NNPC GMD, Mr. Maikanti Baru, was part of the meeting didn’t mean he shared the same views expressed in the meeting.
He added that the agreements reached at the meting was solely the opinions of the participants and, therefore, not binding on the current management of the NNPC, as well as the Federal Government. He said:
“The NNPC GMD was in that meeting, and it does not mean he shared their views. He was the convener of that meeting and he allowed them to express themselves as professionals in the industry. “He did not want to interfere. And whatever views they expressed was not binding on him and not binding on the government also and in any case, the NNPC does not fix price, it is the duty of the PPPRA.
That is their opinion, whether government would increase price or not, I have no idea.” He further stated that the decision to increase the price of PMS or any other petroleum product was within the purview of the PPPRA and not within the powers of the NNPC, which is an operator in the industry. He said: “The NNPC has no mandate to increase price of petroleum products.
It is the mandate of the PPPRA. Only PPPRA has the mandate to increase fuel price and it is under the Ministry of Petroleum, just as the NNPC is also under the Ministry of Petroleum Resources. “We have nothing to do with price increase. The template we are using today was not developed by the NNPC. It was developed by the PPPRA, and the NNPC is a player in the market just like every other player, like Oando, ExxonMobil, Total and Shell.
We do not fix the price. “As I speak to you now, a lot of people are selling below N145 per litre. So the issue of price hike does not arise, considering where we are coming from and the fact that things are hard. As far as that call to hike PMS price is concerned, it is the opinion of the former GMDs.”
Asked the real price of PMS, Garba-Deen said: “I don’t know, because so many variables are normally taken into account in arriving at any price. Foreign exchange is just one of them, because it is not part of our mandate, I cannot comment on it.” The former GMDs of the NNPC, had at a weekend meeting with the current GMD, called for an upward review of the price of petrol, stating that the present price cap of N145 per litre was not in line with current economic realities.
Present at the meeting, according to the NNPC, was the Minister of State for Petroleum/Immediate Past GMD, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, represented by the Senior Technical Assistant, Engr. Johnson Awoyomi; HRM Edmund Daukoru, Chief Odoliyi Lolomar, Dr. Thomas M. A. John, Engr. Lawrence Amu, Dr. Jackson Gaius-Obaseki, Engr. Funsho Kupolokun, Engr. Abubakar Lawal Yar’Adua, Dr. Joseph Thlama Dawha and Mr. Maikanti Baru.
Read more at: Vanguard News
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