FG didn’t increase petrol price, marketers did – Minister

The Federal Government says insisted that it has not raised the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, above the regulated cost of N165 per litre.

The government on Monday said the hike in the cost of the commodity, currently between N175 per litre and N230 per litre, depending on the location of purchase, was done by oil marketers.

The FG, however, could not explain why it was not enforcing the approved price.

Oil marketers across the country recently raised the price of petrol above the approved N165 per litre without any official approval by the government.

This was despite the fact that the cost of commodity was still being regulated.

The marketers, according to The Punch, argued that the N165 per litre approved price was not sustainable and was contributory to the scarcity of petrol in many locations in the country.

They eventually increased the pump price of petrol and had maintained the price increase for several weeks running without any resistance by the government.

Speaking on the sidelines of the stakeholders’ consultation forum on Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulations in Abuja, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, insisted the government had not raised the price of PMS.

Asked to comment on the disparity in the pump prices of petrol and why the government had not waded into the matter, the minister said, “Well, I can tell you authoritatively that we have not deregulated.

“The government is still subsidising, if there are increases in the price it is not from the government, it is probably from the marketers.

“But, of course, I will talk to the NMDPRA’s chief executive to ensure that they actually regulate the prices. But this is not from the government because we have not deregulated.”

Probed further to explain why no action had been taken against the marketers and why there had been no monitoring exercise to enforce the government approved price, Sylva replied, “Well, I don’t know about monitoring exercise.

“But I know that the authority is fully on their job and the queues will be dissipated very soon.”