…As memo sent to President demands an increase
Oscarline Onwuemenyi
06 September 2016, Sweetcrude, Abuja – President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday held a close door meeting with the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Emmanuel Kachikwu and the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru at the Presidential Villa.
This is coming on the heels of speculations of an imminent fuel price hike due to increasing dollar exchange rate.
Recall that a group of former NNPC Group Managing Directors (GMDs) last week after a meeting in Abuja stated that N145 per litre fuel price did not reflect the price determining components of the commodity and the fluctuations of the forex.
The former GMDs said the PMS price cap of N145 per litre was not congruent with the liberalization policy, especially with the foreign exchange rate and other price determining components such as crude cost, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) charges, among others, remaining uncapped.
They, however, commended the NNPC for resolving the fuel supply crisis and urged the corporation to put measures in place that would ensure sustenance of seamless supply of petroleum products nationwide.
The Federal government in May last year, increased the price of fuel from N86.60 to N145 in a move which was seen as a partial deregulation of the petroleum sector.
The NNPC GMD who came out the meeting first, refused to speak to State House Correspondents and when probed further simply said,the NNPC has no plans of increasing the price of fuel and referred journalists to the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) for any clarification.
Similarly after his meeting with the President, Kachikwu declined to speak and referred journalists to the GMD NNPC for any questions on the fuel price increase.
The minister, however, disclosed that there was no memo before the federal government asking for a review of the pump price of petrol.