"We told the NNPC to recover its costs because they know how much it cost them to import the product and sell it."

The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) says it will no longer fix prices or release templates for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly called petrol.

The agency’s Authority Chief Executive (ACE), Farouk Ahmed, who said this at a news conference in Abuja on Friday, said that market forces would henceforth dictate prices under the liberalised market.

“As far as we are concerned in the NMDPRA, this is not like before when the PPPRA fixes the price; in a deregulated market, it is the market force that dictates the price,” he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the development was a sequel to the removal of subsidy on petrol.

President Bola Tinubu had in his inaugural speech on Monday said the fuel subsidy regime had ended with the commencement of his administration.

Mr Ahmed, however, said the market was now open for everybody that would import as far as they met all the requirements.

“So, it is not about the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) alone.

“We put the regulation in place, we make sure quality control is complied with, we make sure the product is there and we give licence to prospective importer.

“We make sure we guide the operations of everyone in the sector whether at the depot or wherever the product is but we will not put a cap to say this is what the price must be,” he said.

According to Mr Ahmed, the role of the NNPC is to fix the prices of the petrol it imported and not take over the responsibilities of the Authority.

“In the case of the NNPC, the organisation is the sole importer at this point. We told the NNPC to recover its costs because they know how much it cost them to import the product and sell it.

“Of course, we also know how much shipping, offshore, ex-depot and ex-pump are. But we cannot tell them to sell at a price because the market is deregulated,” he added.

The NMDPRA boss also disclosed that the federal government has officially scrapped petroleum equalisation as well as the national transport allowance.


He said the NMDPRA, the federal government and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) would mount aggressive monitoring of activities in the downstream sector to prevent profiteering by petroleum marketers.

Mr Ahmed further disclosed that marketers are now free to source their foreign exchange anywhere around the world to import petroleum products and recover their costs without impediments.

On where the importers will source their forex from, Mr Ahmed said the CBN would not give dollars to anyone because of the open market, adding that anyone willing to import should get the dollars from anywhere to import.

According to him, anyone willing to open a letter of credit from any part of the world can do that to import.

“That marketers can source their forex from anywhere is the beauty of the liberalised market that the NMDPRA has introduced based on the provision of the law,” he said.\

Mr Ahmed said that the market would henceforth be modulated to allow the fluidity of prices, adding that no template spelt out the pricing components of petrol price.

He said that “based on this, the price would no longer be static but rather depend on the international price of the gasoline market.

“This did not imply that marketers could sell at any price”.

According to him, the NMDPRA and FCCPC will collaborate to curb excesses if certain prices were way above the expected profit margin.

“The market structure will dictate the price swings at every point in time,” he said.

Mr Ahmed cautioned against optimism for cheap petroleum products, saying products may not be cheaper because the company would be buying crude oil at the international price.

“Dangote Refinery is a game changer in terms of accessibility. By the time the NNPC refineries and other modular refineries across the country come on stream, Nigeria will be a net exporter of petroleum products,” he said.

(NAN)

https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/602193-we-wont-fix-petrol-prices-again-nigerian-agency.html

Good. Let the competition start.
It should be a competitive market, las las the price will definitely comes down without subsidy.

Good

At worst petrol should not be more than 450 in Nigeria

No matter how bad international market is

Corrupt bunch.

KingKO22:
Good

At worst petrol should not be more than 450 in Nigeria

No matter how bad international market is

Some of you who support tinubu are so unintelligent. What this implies is the importers will determine the price of the market including dangotes refinery

Majority agrees that subsidy regime needs to go but my concern here is that, if they say refining locally will not bring down the price of petrol significantly i.e dangote and getting our local refineries to work, if other companies starts importing too taking away NNPC's market monopoly, that too will not bring it down significantly, what then will bring down the price of petrol significantly? Already Buhari has borrowed heaven and earth. Buhari has truly set traps for Tinubu. He will have to prove his brilliance once again in this difficult task ahead. May God help Him

After pegging the price so high to favour your paymasters. Its sad that subsidy had already been paid for until the end of june. Why are we so evil in this country?

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They scammed the masses into this deregulation nonsense. They stole the resources in the name of subsidy for years. They looted the oil sector for years through NNPC, and turned the same conduit pipe into a private sector. The same NNPC that was sold to those who looted Nigerian treasury dry. They now want to leave the masses in the hands of a monopolistic entity called NNPC to finally drive the masses into perpetual hardship.

They promised to fix the refineries within few months into power. SCAM
The promised to provide 24 hour power supply if voted into power. SCAM.

Do you know that if these two important sectors were in good shape, no one will complain about subsidy removal?

Right direction so far...!

Essentially, this means the subsidy is over.

Noted.

This country is gradually killing its citizens, removing subsidy outrightly isn't a right decision to take, at least reduce the subsidy by 50% and watch how things unfold for 1year, by then, people would have adjusted then remove the remaining 50% after a year...


God will save this country from this incompetent leaders

Good

Las las we go dey alright.

NLC and TUC apply for your license and sell to Nigerians at #100

Lobatan

Nonsense.

How can market forces operate when there's no free entrance?

Only one supplier in the market. Of course it'll need to be regulated.

No wahala

Can this Ahmed agency now be scrapped

I don't even understand this government sef

Okay

K

ironheart:
After pegging the price so high to favour your paymasters. Its sad that subsidy had already been paid for until the end of june. Why are we so evil in this country?

If you were in business, would you agree to government fixing your price to help the poor.?

Good. The forces of demand & supply will determine the equilibrium. The price will come down in the long run

I think this is good, once there is adequate competition, the prices will definitely drop as more and more people get into it.

Yes. It's fine. But your agency too should be scrapped and the directors including you sacked.

After the damage has been done.. Nonsense

Clowns

Let's just follow the wave.


Na we be your best plug for everything Sexual enhancement tho

Change the name to Nigerian National Petroleum Products Importation Limited not NNPCL.. Useless organization

Tinubu is starting on a wrong foot. Why will u abandon your prepared speech and start making vague statements like subsidy is gone.


There should have been a Six month transition programmes ahead and atleast a functional refinery working before making subsidy.

Jonathan even bought sure p buses that were conveying students free of charge. So what has tinubu put in place before announcing such outrageous statement.

APC is truly a scam. Ole buhari gbe..ole tinubu gba.