PPPRA allays fear on fuel price hike

The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) management has allayed fears of possible fuel scarcity and hike in pump price of petroleum products, especially premium motor spirit (PMS) otherwise called petrol.

The agency stated in a statement signed by its management on Thursday that according to the National Petroleum Products Stock data and import plan available, it currently indicate that the country has two months sufficiency of petrol, “hence we want to assure motorists and commuters alike, that the products supply situation is robust and able to cater for the fuel needs of all Nigerians, pending when ongoing challenges are addressed.

“As a corollary to the above, PPPRA also wants to inform that contrary to a widely-held belief on the status of HHK (Kerosene), the product is fully deregulated. We hereby appeal to all Nigerians to remain calm and desist from any form of panic-buying, as we assure of our total commitment to adequate products supply and distribution across the country, in line with our mandate.

“We also appeal to all Depot Owners to adhere strictly to the subsisting truck-out principle in order to ensure that products get to retail outlets across the country in a seamless manner. The agency shall not hesitate to apply appropriate sanctions where necessary.”

It may be recalled that the Nigerian Tribune had reported that, after painstaking investigation, there may be fuel scarcity due to NNPC becoming sole importer of petrol having being responsible for over 90 per cent of importation of petrol in last quarter of 2016.

While the agency did not deny subsidy arrears of N660 billion, according to marketers, being owed by the Federal Government, the agency however assured Nigerians that there are enough stock that will last for two months.

Marketers have stressed that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) may have schemed them out of importation of petroleum products due to non availability of foreign exchange while the PPPRA had capped retail price of petrol per litre at N145, a price some marketers claimed cannot cover its landing cost.