No fuel price increase for now – Kachikwu

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Dr. Ibe Kachikwu said he was working on a presidential directive to keep the pump price of petrol where it is.

Speaking at a special session with newsmen at the end of the Nigeria International Petroleum Summit (NIPS), the minister said President Muhammadu Buhari was very concerned about the difficult time Nigerians were facing.

“For now the directives we are working on is that no price increases because people are already going through a lot of groaning and difficult time and obviously the president is very concerned,” Kachikwu said.

He said that at the moment the landing price of petrol was higher than the sale price but that government does not want to increase price.

A committee, according to him, headed by the Vice President has made recommendations to the president on what needs to be done.

The minister explained that it was critical to bring back private market players to import products because it was too much of a burden for the NNPC to be the last supplier to the country.

“We need to find things that enable us provide incentive to the private sector to come back to business and it should something that will last over the next 18 months whilst the refineries are being rekitted,” he said.