Nigerians May Start Buying Fuel For N185 Per Litre Instead of N145

Nigerians may soon have to buy premium motor spirit (PMS), otherwise called petrol, at an official price of N185 per litre. Independent Reports

Indications of this emerged on Thursday when the Federal Government said the current price of N145 per litre was no longer sustainable, considering the landing cost of fuel in the country.
Stakeholders in the oil industry told the Senate at an interactive session hosted by the Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) that landing cost of petrol was now between N170 and N171 while the right price to sell the product may be within the sum of N185 per litre, considering the pricing templates.

But the government assured Nigerians that critical steps would be taken in the next 18 months to address the issue of inadequate supply of fuel through the nation’s refineries which are currently not working at optimal level.

The position of the Federal Government was made public by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, and the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Maikanti Baru, in their presentations before the committee.

Speaking on the appropriate pricing for fuel, Kachikwu said, “The landing cost of products today is about N170/171.

“The price at which we sell it is N145. So, there’s a disparity between the N170 and N145.

“What that means is that those individuals who are really there may not feel an obligation like NNPC has to meet national supply.

“So, we need to step back to determine what do we do.”

Asked if the N170/171 was the landing cost or the ex-depot cost, he said the landing cost would be about N160.

When further asked by the lawmakers if N170/171 was what Nigerians were expected to pay at the pumps, Kachikwu said there were other related costs like NPA, NIMASA, storage, lighting and other charges that would determine the final price.