The President of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), Festus Osifo has revealed that after the removal of petroleum subsidy by the government fuel will be sold between N360 and N400. This disclosure was made to journalists on the sidelines of the association's National Executive Council meeting held in the nation's capital on 28th March 2023, after marketers and other groups in the downstream sector of the Nigerian petroleum industry stated that fuel prices will push to N750 per liter after removal of subsidy.
Speaking on Tuesday, Mr. Osifo said the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited being the sole importer of premium motor spirit (PMS) will determine the petroleum pricing using the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) exchange rate.
“Today, the sole importer of PMS into Nigeria is the NNPC. The NNPC is using an exchange rate of the CBN which gives about N400 to N450 depending on the day and depending on the window that you are looking at. So, if you compute that into the model today, PMS should be selling for a region of about N360 to N400,” Mr. Osifo said.
However, Osifo said that the association has compelled all its organs nationwide to make fuel available for Nigerians and threatened to withdraw the licenses of any member found wanting of hoarding petrol.
He said functional local refineries will not only make fuel affordable but provide jobs for Nigerians. The PENGASSAN chief advised that the money removed from the fuel subsidy could be used to end the perennial strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
He said, “While maintaining our support for the full deregulation of the sector and the significant milestone achieved in this regard, we counsel that efforts be made to increase the pace of the current rehabilitation exercise of refineries and get them back on track in due time.”
