No increase in fuel price, FG reassures Nigerians

The Federal Government has reassured the tripartite labour community of the organized labour, organized private sector, and indeed all Nigerians that there is currently no increase in the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).

This followed the announcement of a new pump price of N212 for PMS by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) late on Thursday night via its website. The PPPRA later on Friday deleted the statement from its website.

According to a statement issued in Abuja, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, said that there will be no increase in the price of PMS for now, as discussions are still ongoing between government and the organised labour as well as other stakeholders on the matter.

He said: “I have made contact with the relevant authorities, the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources and the NNPC and wish to assure members of the public, especially the organised labour and workers that there is no such increase for now.

“We have an ongoing discussions and standing committees comprising labour and government on one hand and another, comprising the office of the Vice President, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Group Managing Director of (NNPC) and the Ministers of Labour, Petroleum and Finance.”

He explained that these two discussions are ongoing concurrently and that the next meeting between the Federal government and the organised labour will hold immediately after the Easter break.

Ngige in the statement said that the present attempt to hoist a fait accompli on the government and all its efforts runs against the ongoing discussions.

“We hence wish to warn the insidious harbingers of such information not to portray government as cruel, irresponsible and unamenable to social dialogue and Collective Bargaining.

“Government will at the right time do an appropriate pricing for petroleum products but not without taking other issues into consideration. This is to ensure that Nigerians don’t suffer the pangs of any price increase in petroleum products.

“Government has deregulated petroleum products and market forces have to dictate pricing. That notwithstanding, government has decided to give it a human face by agreeing to some palliative measures that will make the price realistic and affordable to the ordinary Nigerians.

“We therefore wish to re[1]assure our partners in the organised labour, the NLC, TUC and affiliate unions that there will be no increase in the price of PMS for now. They should therefore continue to cooperate with government side to have a fruitful outcome from the discussions,” Ngige said.

Also, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), on Friday, insisted that there will be no increase in the pump price for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise called petrol, this month.

The Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) had late on Thursday night posted a new price template of N212 per litre of petrol on its website, an increase from N186 per litre the product was sold.

The report which was published on the agency’s website stated that the guiding price of premium motor spirit (PMS) for March 2021 is 211.11 per litre.

“A pricing template for the period, February 1 and 28 2021, based on the average costs of imported petroleum products also puts the lower band of the new fuel price for the month at about N209.61 per litre while the upper band was calculated at N212.61 per litre,” the PPPRA said.

The statement was however deleted by the PPPRA in the afternoon on Friday just before NNPC released its statement.

However, before the deletion of the statement, many Nigerians condemned the action of the PPPRA, saying it would further increase the hardship of the masses.

Reacting to the now suspended hike, Timipre Sylva, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, said there will be no increment in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) until conclusion of consultation with Organised Labour.

According to the minister, the clarification was necessitated with reports that the price of PMS, commonly known as petrol, had been increased to N212.61 per litre.

He said: ”Irrespective of the source of that information, I want to assure you that it is completely untrue.

“Neither Mr President who is the Minister of Petroleum Resources nor myself who deputise for him as minister of state has approved that petrol price should be increased by one naira.

“I therefore urge you to disregard this misleading information.”

According to him, for the past few months, the government has been in consultation with organised labour to find the least painful option to respond to the global rise of crude price which has inevitably led to increase in petrol prices.

He said it was unthinkable that government would unilaterally abandon these discussions and act in the manner suggested by the information under reference. Sylva maintained that cynicism and deceit have never been the trademark of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

“I will like to equally assure you that the engagement with the organised labour and other stakeholders will continue even reasonable price regime are being done; all in good faith and you will be availed of the final outcome at the appropriate time.

“Until then, all marketers are strongly advised to maintain the current pump price of PMS before the emergence of this unfortunate information.

“Those who may want to take advantage of this unfortunate information to extort Nigerians should not give in to such temptations as there are regulatory mechanisms that government can enforce to protect its citizens.

“In conclusion, I want to sincerely apologise to all Nigerians for any distress and inconvenience the unfortunate information might have caused,” he said.

Also, reacting, the NNPC said it stands by its earlier statement that there will be no increase in the pump price of petrol this month.

The Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the Corporation, Dr. Kennie Obateru, disclosed that Ex-deport price is the price at which oil marketers buy products at the depots, adding that the price is what determines the price at which petrol stations will sell to motorists.

While reacting to the new PMS Pricing template released by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) that indicted N212.61k Pump price for March, Obateru said: “NNPC stands by that statement that we issued on March 1 that we are not increasing the Ex-depot price in the month of March and that is what it is.

“There is no need for panicking and I can tell you from our own point of view that we will not be increase the pump price of petrol and we are still standing by that March 1 decision.

“We have a sufficiency of product in the country and there is really no need for the public to panic. Like I have stated, the ex-depot price for the NNPC is still at it is, it has not increased and it will not increase in March,’’ he said.

The Daily Times, however, observed that the announcement of a new price was greeted with outrage in Lagos with fuel queue in several filling stations, while many others claimed not to have fuel. The sudden volte face by PPPRA may not be unconnected with the public outcry that greeted the planned petrol price increase.

The Daily Times observed that the announcement of the new pump price for petrol by PPPRA was greeted with outrage in Lagos with fuel queue in several filling stations, while many others claimed not to have fuel.

The deletion came hours after the agency published the template on its website, http://pppra.gov.ng/pms[1]guiding-price-for-march-2021/, and after the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation insisted that there was no increment in the ex-depot price of petrol.

The ex-depot price is the price at which the product is sold by the NNPC to marketers at the depots. According to the (now deleted) template which the PPPRA released midnight, petrol was expected to sell at a lower retail price of N209.61 and at an upper retail price of N212.61.

Nigerian marketers usually use the upper band for pump price. The expected ex-depot price, as seen in the template, is N206.42, while the landing cost is N189.61.

With ex-depot price standing at N206.42 per litre, the March template (now deleted) showed that the landing cost for petrol per litre is N189.61.

But the PPPRA, in a seeming U-turn, deleted the template hours later. As of 9am on Friday, the template was still on the website but when our correspondent checked at 2:00pm, the template has been deleted. The website page showed ‘Page not found 404’.

Meanwhile, the PPPRA says the March guiding prices posted on its website does not translate to increase in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) also known as petrol.

The PPPRA Executive Secretary, Abdulkadir Saidu, disclosed this in a statement in Abuja, on Friday. “The attention of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) has been drawn to speculations about the increased pump price of PMS.

“The PPPRA by this release wishes to state clearly that the guiding prices posted on our website was only indicative of current market trends and do not translate to any increase in pump price of PMS.

“However, publications by the media to this effect have been misconstrued and thus misleading,’’ he said.

He said that the introduction of the market-based pricing regime for PMS Regulation 2020 was gazetted by the Federal Government.

According to him, based on this regulation, prices are expected to be determined by market realities in line with the dictates of market forces.

“One of the conditions for the implementation of the Market-Based Pricing Regime for PMS Regulation 2020 is the monthly release of guiding price to reflect current market fundamentals.

“The PPPRA in line with its mandate to maintain constant surveillance over all key indices relevant to pricing policy, monitors market trends on a daily basis to determine Guiding Prices,’’ he said.

Saidu said that the agency was not unaware of the challenges with the supply of PMS due to some concerns leading NNPC to be the sole importer of PMS.

“PPPRA is also mindful of the current discussion going on between the government and the Organised Labour on the deregulation policy.

“While consultation with relevant stakeholders is ongoing, PPPRA does not fix or announce prices and therefore there is no price increase.

“The current PMS price is being maintained while consultations are being concluded. “Even though market fundamentals for PMS in the past few months indicated upward price trends, the pump price has remained the same and we are currently monitoring the situation across retail outlets nationwide,’’ he added.

Saidu assured the public of adequate products supply as the average PMS Day-Sufficiency as of March 11, 2021 was over 35 days.

“The PPPRA pledges to continue to perform its statutory function in ensuring that the downstream sector remains vibrant as well as support both government and members of the public,’’ he said.