The House of Representatives has urged the Petroleum Products Prices Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), to reduce the current price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) to N70.
This followed the adoption of a motion sponsored by Rep. Abubakar Fulata titled “Urgent Need to Review the Petroleum Price Template”.
Fulata expressed dismay over specualtions that there might be a hike in the price of petrol in the country. He stated that it was a wrong time to do so, as the nation was going through hard times.
The lawmaker also called for the current template for the price of PMS to be reviewed downwards without affecting the profit margin of marketers and transporters.
“I am aware that the current cost of freighting PMS stands at N109.1, Lightering expenses N4.56, Nigeria Ports Authority charges N0.84, NIMASA charges N0.22, Financing N2.51 and Jetty put charges at N0.60,” he said.
“Storage charges N2.00, retailers margin N6.00, transport allowance N3.36, dealers margin N2.36, bridging fund N6.20 and marine transport average put at N0.15 bringing the total cost to N137.81.
“Thus, the total of both the landing and distribution costs is N138.11, while marketers are allowed to sell the product within the range of N140 and N145 per litre”, he added.
Fulata further revealed that over 90 per cent of the current price of PMS in the country was linked to transport related charges at N124.34 out of N138.11.
He criticized the NPA’s inability to dredge the ports, despite collecting N0.84 for every litre of fuel – an action that cost consumers N4.56 for every litre of petrol they buy.
“Bridging is supposed to be an annual event only when refineries are carrying out their turn around maintenance which should not exceed three months.
“However, due to the fact that pipelines linking the various depots have been vandalised or in a state of disrepair, bridging has remained a permanent feature of the oil industry in Nigeria.
“Also a realistic template would bring down the price of petrol to N70.04″, he added.
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