The amount the Federal Government is subsidizing Premium Motor Spirit
(PMS), also known as petrol, rose, yesterday, to N9.09 per litre,
according to the latest pricing template released by the Petroleum
Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA.
Specifically, this
means that if the Federal Government was to hands-off subsidizing the
product and allow market forces determine the price, Nigerians would be
made to pay a minimum of N95.09 to purchase a litre of the petrol from
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s (NNPC) retail stations, and
N95.74 per litre from other oil marketers.
This was even as the
unending fuel crisis witnessed across the country continued, showing no
sign of abating, with some oil marketers blaming the NNPC’s suspension
of product allocation to some of them for worsening the crisis.
The
PPPRA in its template, released Tuesday, put the Cost plus Freight of
imported petrol at N74.83 per litres, with other cost elements hiking
the landing cost of the product for marketers to N81.44 per litre. With a
distribution margins put at N14.30 per litre, the Expected Open Market
price of the product rose to N95.74 per litre.
However, the
Federal Government fixed the Ex-depot price, which is the price at which
marketers purchase the products from depots, at N76.50 per litre, while
the retail price was fixed at N86.50 per litre.
In spite of the
looming increase in fuel price from May, a petrol station owner in
Abuja, who is member of the Association of Credit Marketers of Petroleum
Products in Nigeria (ACMPPN) lamented that members of the association
have not been allocated products since March.
The marketer called
on the NNPC and its subsidiary, the restructured Pipeline Products
Marketing Company, PPMC, to urgently lift the suspension it placed on
product allocation to credit marketers if it is serious about ending the
fuel crisis.
However, National President of the Association of
Credit Marketers of Petroleum Products in Nigeria (ACMPPN), Samuel
Nwoga, insisted that its members were not indebted to the NNPC, while he
said the group was already in talks with the NNPC with a view of
resolving the areas of differences in the best interest of the country.
Also,
NNPC’s Chief Operating Officer, Downstream, Henry Ikem-Obih said the
NNPC has received a letter from the group and a meeting was being
scheduled.
The marketer, who chose not be named, said the ban on
petrol allocation to credit marketers in March coincided with
aggravation of the now three-month acute shortage of petrol that has
defiled all solutions, as it led to the shutdown of thousands of filling
stations across the country.
According to him, the argument that
credit marketers were hugely indebted to PPMC was not true and the
marketers have bank guarantees to back their business.
He said,
“Each credit marketer has a bank guarantee and that means the credit is
secured. So why is NNPC asking the major marketers to go back to
business and we that have bank guarantees you are shutting us out.
“What
is happening is nothing short of sabotage because the credit marketers
have the best distribution business not only in the big cities like
Abuja and Lagos but across the country.
“We have the most
stations in this country with over 1,000 station petrol stations. The
previous governments, when there is scarcity like this they will order
the depots where we are loading to load us to supply to Nigerians.
“And
if they load us, within two days the whole scarcity ends but as it is
right now despite the acute scarcity NNPC has failed to reverse their
decision and lift the suspension.”
He maintained that without the
participation of its members it would be impossible to end the fuel
crisis, especially as none of its members is currently loading from
depots across the country.
He said, “Under Obasanjo regime, the
system of credit marketers worked perfectly and when Jonathan came, he
also adopted the system and you will have noticed that under Jonathan
even when you had few cases of scarcity it did last as long as we are
having it now.”
He, therefore, urged the Minister of State
Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu to urgently direct the PPMC to
lift the suspension of products allocation to credit marketers and order
depots across the country to load their trucks.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/04/subsidy-petrol-rises-n9-09-per-litre/
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