Queues Persist Despite Reversal
• Sylva Apologises To Nigerians, Insists No Increment Until Conclusion Of FG, Labour Talks • NNPC Assures Of Adequate Supply Of Product • PPPRA Deletes Template Announcing N212.68 / Litre Pump Price • Hike Can Attract Mass Protest, PDP Cautions
I Nwhat appeared to be the most uncoordinated situation by agencies under the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, headed by President Muhammadu Buhari, confusion, panic-buying and an attempt to profiteer by marketers ruled the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise called petrol, yesterday, following a template released by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), which increased petrol pump price to N212.68 per litre. Long queues, traffic jam, increase in cost of transportation and immediate shutdown of most petrol stations were the result of the situation across most parts of the country. However, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and PPPRA tried to manage the situation, insisting that the pump price remained unchanged.
Sylva, who gave the assurance while addressing newsmen in Lagos, yesterday, said: “Irrespective of the source of that information, I want to assure you that it is completely untrue. “Neither Mr. President, who is the Minister of Petroleum Resources, nor myself, who deputise for him as minister of state, has approved that petrol price should be increased by one naira. “I, therefore, urge you to disregard this misleading information.”
He informed that in the past few months, government has been in consultation with organised labour to find the least painful option to respond to the global rise of crude price, which has inevitably led to increase in petrol prices, adding that it was unthinkable that government would unilaterally abandon these discussions and act in the manner suggested by the information under reference. Sylva maintained that cynicism and deceit have never been the trademark of the Buhari’s administration, noting: “I will like to equally assure you that the engagement with the organised labour and other stakeholders will continue, even as the calculations to arrive at a reasonable price regime are being done, all in good faith and you will be availed of the final outcome at the appropriate time. “Until then, all marketers are strongly advised to maintain the current pump price of PMS before the emergence of this unfortunate information.”
He warned that those who may want to take advantage of this unfortunate information to extort Nigerians should not give in to such temptations, as there are regulatory mechanisms that government can enforce to protect its citizens. “In conclusion, I want to sincerely apologise to all Nigerians for any distress and inconvenience the unfortunate information might have caused.”
In the same vein, the NNPC’S Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Dr. Kennie Obateru, while addressing newsmen in Abuja, said ex-deport price, which is the price at which oil marketers buy products at the depots and determines the price at which petrol stations would sell to motorists, will not increase. Obateru urged Nigerians and motorists not to engage in panic buying, as the corporation had no plans to increase its ex-depot price. “NNPC stands by that statement that we issued on March 1, that we are not increasing the ex-depot price in the month of March, and that is what it is. “There is no need for panicking and I can tell you from our own point of view that we will not increase the pump price of petrol and we are still standing by that March 1 decision.
“We have sufficiency of product in the country and there is really no need for the public to panic. The ex-depot price for the NNPC is still at it is, it has not increase and in this month of March.” Also, Major Oil Marketers Association
of Nigeria (MOMAN) and Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) denied any hike in the pump price of petrol.
Executive Secretary of MOMAN,
Mr. Clement Isong, said the NNPC had assured members that they would not increase of prices in March, adding that the association has advised its members to continue retailing with the old price regime.
Similarly, President of IPMAN, Mr. Chinedu Okoronkwo, said marketers had received communication from NNPC that there would not be any price increment until government and organised labour concluded their deliberations. “There is no increment; government is still talking with labour. What we are even concerned about is total deregulation of the market. There are other alternative sources of energy to PMS and we cannot continue to focus all our attention only on that product.”
Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has cautioned that any increase of pump price of petrol would amount to pushing Nigerians to the wall and a direct invitation to mass protest in the country. The PDP, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, said any such increase is capable of worsening an already tensed situation and lead to economic and social crisis in the country.
The party noted that there is no way that Nigerians can survive such hike, as it will worsen the already agonising economic situation in the country. The PDP maintained that with an honest and transparent administration of our national production capacity and potentialities, domestic price of fuel should not exceed N70 per liter. “Nigerians have endured enough and it is our concern that any further increase in fuel price may become the last straw that might break the camel’s back.” The party cautioned that with over 100 million citizens living in abject poverty, with an alarming 23 per cent unemployment rate and many more living below N500 a day, any increase in fuel price is capable of triggering a mass protest in the land.
The PDP charged the administration to save the nation the trouble by ending every contemplation of fuel price increase, particularly at this time Nigerians are expecting a downward review in prices, urging Nigerians “to remain calm, but very alert in readiness, within the ambit of the laws and opportunities granted under democracy, to stand up for, rescue and defend our national patrimony and collective wealth.” Barely few weeks after similar situation left untold hardship on many Nigerian, especially with increase in cost of transport and food items, petrol queues returned to Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Lagos, Oyo and other major cities, as black market price soared to N350 per litre.
Ironically, following the outrage that greeted the increase in the price of petrol, the PPPRA deleted an earlier published template announcing that the new price. This came hours after the agency published the template on its website, http://pppra.gov.ng/pmsguiding-price-for-march2021/, and after the NNPC insisted that there was no increment in the ex-depot price of petrol. PPPRA later issues a release signed by its Executive Secretary, Abdulkadir Saidu, stating that guiding prices posted on its website was only indicative of current market trends and do not translate to any increase in pump price of PMS.
“The Agency wishes to remind the general public of the introduction of the Market-based Pricing Regime for PMS Regulation 2020, as gazetted by the Federal Government. Based on this regulation, prices are expected to be determined by market realities in line with the dictates of market forces,” Saidu said.
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