The Federal Government has decided to clamp down on filling stations selling Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) above the N165 agreed pump price as Nigeria’s fuel scarcity lingers for another week.
This was disclosed in a statement by M. Farouk Ahmed, Authority Chief Executive, Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), after a joint inspection of fuel stations in Abuja.
The agency said that the pump price of PMS was still N165 per litre and that the FG has not changed its decision.
Conducting the exercise alongside officials of the Petroleum Pipeline and Marketing Company (PPMC), Ahmed warned that the agency, based on its engagement with the Depots and Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPMAN) and Major Oil Marketers of Nigeria (MOMAN), they were warned against over price at the depot.
He added that regulations that would be taken include withdrawal of service from a particular depot and shutting and sanctioning them because nobody was above the law, and we must enforce the regulations.
“We are actually trying to monitor the dispensing to ensure that all the stations with petrol are dispensing all their trucks to reduce the long queues and ensure efficiency in service”, he said.
“We are monitoring the depot sales also, checking the number of trucks that loaded; this is a serious fact which we look at.
“There has been a lot of improvement in the distribution of PMS; we have gone round the Airport road and saw a lot of stations selling and discharging fuel.
“The queues are not long like before and the average trucks we have received in Abuja in the last three days are about 140 trucks against 70 trucks to 80 trucks received before; so there is a lot of improvement.”
He added that credit also goes to transporters because now they are reacting to the President’s offer of additional N10 as an incentive on their transportation charges, citing improvement in operations.
Mr Adeyemi Adetunji, Group Executive Director, Downstream, NNPC Ltd., said NNPC has “1.9 billion liters of PMS; Lagos is cleared in a couple of days; we will clear the queues in Abuja”.
President Muhammadu Buhari recently approved the upward review in freight rate of oil transporters to alleviate challenges associated with PMS distribution nationwide; rates were increased for transporters by N10 from N10.46 and now N20.46 kobo. The revised freight rate of PMS took effect from June 1, maintaining the current regulated pump price of N165 per litre.
Recall that the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) warned that it could not guarantee the supply of petroleum products in the southeast.
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