The
Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, says the recent N4 increase in
price of petrol in Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) filling
stations, is wrong.
Mr. Kachikwu
said this after receiving an award at an event organized by the Petroleum
Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) in Abuja on Sunday.
NNPC had
been selling fuel at N141 but on Thursday, increased it by N4 to the government
benchmark of N145.
“It is
obviously humbling and too early in the day to receive an award and to be
recognised so soon in some of the things we are trying to do. It is humbling, I
thank them very much.
“First, I
am not aware that the NNPC has increased price. I need to look into that. It is
a bit of surprise for me, because there are processes in doing this, if they
have done that, it means they are doing it wrongly.
“Let me
find out what the facts are,” he told journalists.
Mr.
Kachikwu said the increase could be as a result of foreign exchange
differentiation.
He said
there were commitments like payments to the Ministry of Transport and the
Nigerian Ports Authority that needed foreign currency.
“Having
said that, the reality is that what we did at the point where we did some
liberalisation, was to enable the free market float the price.
“Obviously,
as you look at foreign exchange differentiations and all that, it would impact.
The worst thing you could do is to go back to an era where we basically were
fixing prices.
“What we
ought to be doing was watching the prices, making sure that they are not taking
advantage of the common man; making sure that the template is respected.
“One of
the things I think we had hoped to do, which we should still do, before we
embark on any price increase is to work on those templates,” he said.
He,
however, promised to discuss with industry operators.
The
minister said: “those who are investing must be able to predict the pricing
methodologies, the pricing consequences and the actions, to be able to justify
their investments.
“At the
end of the day, I think PPPRA is the one that has the authority to say it is
time the template justified some level of movement.
“Otherwise,
you have a crisis of individual decisions on pricing,” he said.
On the issue
of insecurity in the Niger Delta, Mr. Kachikwu assured that President Muhammad
Buhari was committed to finding lasting peace in that region.
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