It would be very difficult for the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari to reduce the petroleum pump price to N40 per litre, said Ogun state chapter of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigerian (IPMAN),
The chairman of the association in the state, Adeleke Bada disclosed this after the association’s annual general meeting held in Abeokuta.
Bada was reacting to the assurance given to Nigerians by former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Tam David West that the President-elect will reduce the pump price to N40.
According to him, such reversion is impossible and not realistic due to the situation in the industry.
He explained that the federal government could however reduce it to N87 per litre, if they build refineries in some parts of the country.
Bada said: “That is not possible, if you look at the nature of the market, that isn’t realistic. Do we have the refineries?
“The only reason that can be possible is when we have our own refineries and we do not export our crude oil for processing. If the processing is done in Nigeria, then it can be sold at the rate of N40 but not until all the refineries are fixed.”
Nigeria’s President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari
He explained that marketers are not complying with the stipulated N87 per litre of Premium Motor Spirit because of the expenses incurred while trying to get the fuel available for the use of the masses, Nigerian Eye reports.
“But by the time you get to the depot, after paying around N2.6m for your ticket, a lot of levies are to be paid, levies from PTD, IPMAN and all others, adding them all together with the cost of transporting your trucks to the station, no one is ready to run at a loss.
“I even give them (marketers) kudos for selling the fuel because they do not want the masses to suffer despite all these anomalies. That is why if you can afford to buy it at the prices they sell, then go on because we make use of it everyday,” Bada said.
Nigeria, since 1973, has had so many fuel price increases, with few marginal reductions. Almost every President that has ruled the country has made it a point of duty to hike fuel price at one time or the other.
In January 2012, President Goodluck Jonathan increased the pump price of petrol from N65 to N141 but he was forced to reduce it to N97 per litre, due to Labour strike. In January 2015, due to the fall in crude oil price in the international market, the federal government slashed the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, from N97 to N87 per litre.
Since the official reduction of petrol price, not all marketers have complied with the directive.
