PETROAN lauds FG over petrol price cut to N123.50
Appeals to FG, PPPRA, others for intervention fund
The leadership of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) has commended the Federal Government of Nigeria for the reduction of the pump price of petrol to N123.50 per litre from the previous price of N125.
This comes after the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) reduced the pump price to N125 from N145.
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The PETROAN, however, in a statement signed by its National President, Dr Billy S. Gillis and Assistant National Secretary of the association, Harry Ogbuefi E. Erasmus, and obtained by The Daily Times on Wednesday stated that it sincerely commend the Federal Government for the wonderful initiative, which was borne out of genuine concern for the citizens of this country.
According to the petroleum retail owners, “We wish to, therefore, seize this opportunity to express our heartfelt appreciation and happiness at this edifying gesture by the Federal Government of Nigeria under the distinguished leadership of President, Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR and the Honourable Minister of State for Petroleum Chief Timipre Silva for, once more, showing excellent leadership in times of need and in the face of a global crisis.
The association, therefore, stated that its teeming members are very willing to obey and comply with the new reduction in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit, adding that the PETROAN are confident that this move will help in reduction of the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Nigeria Economy.
Although, the association noted that it members have recorded massive losses from 19th of March 2020 when the first reduction was announced by the Federal Government.
“With the further reduction in price by the Federal Government our members again will lose a sizable amount of money which will impact negatively in their buying power, which will inevitably spiral down to a reduction in the patronage of the government approval of petroleum products distribution depot.
“We, therefore, wish to appeal to the Federal Government, PPPRA and another relevant stakeholder to come to our aid by urgently setting up an intervention fund to be a midwife by the CBN and disburse to our members in the form of soft loans so as to cushion the effect of the PMS price reduction on the businesses of our teeming members and to guarantee to replenish investible capital”, the association stated.
Meanwhile, Abdulkadir Saidu, the Executive Secretary of PPPRA, who announced the new pump price, said all retail outlets should start selling at the new price from April 1.
The agency explained that the reduction is based on the reduced landing cost of petrol into Nigeria which is caused by the global decline of crude oil prices.
Earlier, the state oil firm, NNPC, announced that it had enough petrol in circulation to ensure there was no scarcity of the essential product as millions of Nigerians remain at home because of the COVID-19 outbreak.
