President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday met with the Managing Director of Nigeria’s National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Maikanti Baru and the minister of state for Petroleum Ibe Kachikwu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Emerging from the meeting which both Baru and Kachikwu denied knowledge of plans to hike the price of the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol.
The meeting which was held behind closed doors came on the heels of calls by former GMDs of the Corporation for an upward review of the price of petrol, stating that the current price of N145 per litre could not be sustained in the face of current realities.
Oil marketers last month also said due to the continued scarcity of foreign exchange to finance the importation of PMS the price may increase .
The former GMDs at a meeting convened by Baru on Saturday argued that the current price cap of N145 per litre is not commensurate with the liberalization policy especially that of foreign exchange rate and other price determining components such as crude cost, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) charges, among others.
Emerging from the meeting with the President both the NNPC GMD and minister of state for petroleum evaded commenting on a possible increase of the product.
When accosted Baru walking off, only telling journalists that “there is nothing like that. Go to PPPRA” .
The GMD also directed journalists to go to the Petroleum Product Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) for anything on fuel increase.
Kachikwu who also refused to stop and respond to journalists said “there is no memo to that effect, wait for the GMD”.
The Federal Government liberalised the downstream sector of the petroleum industry on May 11, 2016, and announced an increase in the pump prices of petrol from N86 and N86.5 per litre to between N135 and N145 per litre.It had also stated that the market was to be driven by the factors of demand and supply, as it was now largely in the hands of private sector players.
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