The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Timipre Sylva has said the Federal Government did not increase fuel prices as fuel subsidy still remains in place.
Sylva, who spoke with newsmen on the sidelines of the Nigerian Midstream and Donstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority stakeholders’ consultation on Monday in Abuja, said the increase from N165 per litre stipulated by the government to N169, N184 and N218, depending on the location was done by marketers of the commodity.
The Federal Government of Nigeria on Monday said it has not removed subsidies on the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol.
He said, “I can tell you authoritatively, we have not deregulated. The government is still subsidising petrol prices. If there are increases in price, it’s not from the government.
“It is probably from the marketers, but of course, I will talk to the authorities to ensure that they actually regulate the price. This isn’t from the government, we’ve not deregulated.
“But a lot is going on to ensure that the queues end. As of yesterday, I noticed that the queues in Abuja are easing off.”
In July, Chief Chinedu Ukadike, the Public Relations Officer, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, who spoke on the development attributed the increase in pump price to lack of working refineries and the complicity of importing and distributing the commodity in Nigeria.
According to him, “Abinitio, we have also stated that there is no way marketers will buy products from private depots who are now selling at N170 and some at N167 depending on the area the tank farm is situated. These private tank farms owners have made it clear that they cannot sell at government approved price.
“Marketers cannot buy at N167-N170 and you expect them to sell at N165. This is why marketers have looked at the high cost of logistics because diesel is at N850 per litre now and to transport product from these wet areas to dry areas cost a lot of money.
“If you look at Abuja you will see that it does not have any depot that supplies petroleum products. All petroleum products in Abuja, Kano and other northern areas of the country are being taken from wet areas like Lagos, Calabar and others which have seaports.
“The products are all imported and Nigeria is heavily dependent on imports because the refineries are not working. So the private tank farms are now used to supply petroleum products to marketers. We are now left in their hands and whatever they sell to us, we will mark up our margins and sell to customers, the end users”, he added.
