Oscarline Onwuemenyi
15 March 2017, Sweetcrude, Abuja – The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, has assured that once the nation’s oil sector is deregulated, petrol pump price will go below N145 per liter, even as it restated its resolve to sanction oil marketers who exploit motorists and other consumers of petrol.
The acting executive secretary of the agency, Mr. Victor Shidok, who stated this in Abuja, noted that, “PPPRA will ensure effective monitoring of petroleum products’ distribution and compliance with pricing template and PPPRA will not allow long queues at filling stations because of speculations that pump prices may be raised.”
Shidok lamented the loss of lives resulting from scarcity due to diversion, adulteration and storage of fuel in homes.
According to him, “Since the PPPRA was established 16 years ago, Nigeria has not witnessed the perennial scarcity of petroleum products apart from occasional hiccups from supply challenges. In distribution, PPPRA has been able to establish stability in the downstream sector.
“We can say that we have not fully deregulated, but I am bold to say that we have achieved 75 percent of downstream deregulation, making it possible to buy fuel without long queues at filling stations.”
He noted that countries with deregulated regimes had mechanism to protect consumers from exploitation. In a fully deregulated regime, the PPPRA, he said, would ensure the effective distribution of petroleum products.
