…minister has not asked that the new price be reversed
The Minister of State Petroleum Resources Chief Timipre Sylva has denied any increase in the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), yet he has not given any directive that the latest price should be reversed
In a statement, on Friday, in Abuja, Sylva said President Muhammadu Buhari has not approved any price increase for PMS as is been bandied around.
“President Muhammadu Buhari has not approved any increase in the price of PMS or any other petroleum product for that matter. There is no reason for President Muhammadu Buhari to renege on his earlier promise not to approve any increase in the price of PMS at this time. Mr President is sensitive to the plights of the ordinary Nigerian and has said repeatedly that he understands the challenges of the ordinary Nigerian and would not want to cause untold hardship for the electorates’.
“Government will not approve any increase of PMS secretly without due consultations with the relevant stakeholders. The President has not directed the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) or any agency for that matter to increase the price of fuel. This is not the time for any price increase in pump price of PMS” Sylva stated further.
The Minister noted that “What is playing out is the handiwork of mischief makers and those planning to discredit the achievements of Mr President in the oil and gas sector of the economy. I appeal to Nigerians to remain calm and law-abiding as the government is working hard to bring normalcy to fuel supply and distribution in the country”.
MOMAN
Meanwhile, the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) has expressed sympathy with its customer over the hiccups being experienced at filling stations on account of trying to purchase fuel.
The association in a press statement said: “MOMAN sympathizes with our customers and Nigerians over the challenges we are facing in the purchase of petrol at filling stations across the country.
These queues are caused by exceptional high demand and bottlenecks in the fuel distribution chain. The major cause is the shortage and high (US Dollar) costs of daughter vessels for ferrying product from mother vessels to depots along the coast.
Next is the inadequate number of trucks to meet the demand to deliver product from depots to filling stations nationwide.
These high logistics and exchange rate costs continue to put pressure on prices at the pump. Over the past three months, staff & management of MOMAN companies have worked diligently at depots and filling stations to relieve the stress faced by customers through the Christmas and New year period. Our members have again agreed to extend depot loading hours as well as keep strategically situated service stations open for longer hours to ease access to fuels for our customers.
MOMAN shall continue to use its best endeavors to ensure that product is sold at the pump at prices currently approved by the Regulatory Authorities, despite pressure on price by demand and costs in our immediate operating environment.
A final resolution to these challenges will be the full deregulation of the petroleum downstream sector to encourage liberalization of supply and long-term investments in distribution assets. We urge the government to work towards this end goal.
IPMAN chairman in Oyo State has alleged that Private depots sell petrol to independent marketers at N250 per litre
He said his members are not hoarding product.
Bukola Mutiu who was In reacting to the fuel scarcity which is being witnessed around the country for quite some time now, said members of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), covering Oyo, Osun States and environs, are not responsible for the scarcity.