At last the Federal Government has taken away 50 kobo from the N87 per litre, which is the official price petrol is currently sold accross the country.
According to the government, as from January 1, 2016, all retail stations of the NNPC would start selling petrol at N86 per litre while other oil marketers would sell at N86.50k per litre.
The new development was announced by the Executive Secretary, Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), Mr Farouk Ahmed, at a news conference on Tuesday in Abuja.
Giving further clarification on the matter, he said that the reduction in the price of the commodity was due to an implementation of the revised components of the Petroleum Products Pricing Template for PMS and Household Kerosene.
He also hinted that the revised template will be reviewed on quarterly basis, attesting that it is geared towards ensuring an efficient and market-driven price that will reflect current realities.
In his words: “Since 2007, while crude oil price had been moving up and down, the template remains the same.
“This made it necessary for us to introduce a mechanism whereby the template would be sensitive to the price of crude oil.
“However, the template is not static, as there would be a quarterly review and if there is any major shift, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources would be expected to call for a review, either upward or downward.
“If there is no major shift, the price would continue from January to March 2016.
”In addition, there would be a Product Pricing Advisory Committee that would be set up to advise the PPPRA concerning movements in the price of crude oil.”
The executive secretary further stated that the NNPC would sell lower than other oil marketers, due to the fact that it was cheaper for it to import, compared to both the independent and major oil marketers.
In the breakdown, he listed the major components affected by the review in the pricing template to include Traders Margin, Lightering Expenses, Nigerian Port Authority (NPA) Charges and Jetty Throughput and Storage Charges, as well as Bridging Fund, among others.
-Emmanuel Ikechukwu
