Petrol Pump Price Not Increased To N302 Per Litre — Presidency

The Presidency has rejected reports indicating that the National Economic Council (NEC) has recommended increasing the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) to N302 per litre.

The reports emerged on Wednesday claiming that the NEC chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in November 2021 recommended that PMS, which currently sells for between N162 and N165 per litre in the country be increased to N302.

According to the online newspaper, the increase was part of the government’s plan to fully deregulate the prices of PMS and eliminate monthly subsidy payments with provisions to ensure fair competition in the market.

The report suggested that the recommendations were put forward by the NEC ad-hoc committee interfacing with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on the appropriate pricing of PMS in Nigeria.

The ad-hoc committee is headed by Kaduna State governor, Nasir el-Rufai.

The online medium had reported: “The recommendation has since been reconsidered and dropped by the committee. According to the new report, the committee recommended full deregulation of PMS prices by February 2022 — raising the price by about N130/140 per litre.”

“It also recommended that all retailers should post PMS prices at all times on a designated website and smartphone app — and they are expected to post price changes no earlier than within 15 minutes of the price change.

“With the recommendations, the committee added that the federal government would save N250 billion per month on petrol subsidy removal.

“At current rates, the PMS subsidy is reducing transfers into the federation by about NGN 250 billion per month, and could, if PMS subsidies are not eliminated, result in deductions of NGN 3 trillion in 2022.

“The large-scale time-limited (6-months) cash transfer proposed as a way of transferring the subsidy “directly to the people” would cost N600 billion but would by paving the way for the elimination of PMS subsidies, enable the federation to recover N3 trillion in revenues that would otherwise go to PMS subsidies.

“If PMS subsidies are eliminated by February 2022, N250 billion in deductions would have been incurred, but the remaining N195 billion in anticipated PMS subsidy deductions could be redirected towards FGN funding of the cash-transfer programme.”

However, the Presidency has now denied the claim, noting that such resolution had never been made by the NEC.

Vice President Osinbajo’s spokesman, Laolu Akande, who also coordinates the NEC media activities, debunked the report in a tweet on Wednesday, wondering why attempts were not made to seek clarification on the issue.

Tweeting on his handle, @akandeoj, he said: “While there are indeed ongoing discussions on the issue of fuel subsidy, at no time has NEC made any such resolution as this report claims.

“Public discourse can be better served by seeking further clarification from relevant quarters on matters of such importance.”