El-Rufai, Marketers Subsidy Payment Claims Wrong – FG, NNPC

 

The Federal Government has again denied that it pays fuel subsidy.

 

FG denied paying for subsidy through its Ministry of Petroleum Resources and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.

 

It stated that the various claims by different individuals and groups on the alleged return of subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, were wrong.

 

The government also challenged those who make this argument to provide evidence to justify their allegations, stressing that since President Bola Tinubu had declared the end of subsidy on petrol, the situation remains so.

 

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, stressed that fuel subsidy was a sensitive issue, but noted that the government had made its position known on the matter.

 

When contacted for the reaction of the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, on the matter, his media aide, Nneamaka Okafor, provided a video clip where her boss reacted to the claims of the former Kaduna governor and marketers.

 

In the clip, Lokpobiri insisted that petrol subsidy had ceased to exist, and urged those who alleged that the government was still subsidising the commodity to provide evidence and facts.

 

The minister said, “I don’t want to delve into that issue. It is a very sensitive issue. It is better we get all the facts. As far as I’m concerned, the President removed the subsidy and it remains removed till today. Anybody who is saying that subsidy is being paid, it is left for the person to bring the facts and then we will talk about them.”

 

Asked whether the price being paid for petrol currently is determined by market forces, the minister replied, “It may not be determined by market forces but let us deal with the price as it is today.

 

The NNPC also said it was recovering its full cost on the petroleum products that it imports into Nigeria, and insisted that there was nothing like petrol subsidy any more. NNPC is the sole importer of petrol into Nigeria currently.

 

Their comments came as oil marketers backed the claim by the immediate past Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, that the Federal Government had resumed the payment of subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit also called petrol.

 

Oil dealers also pointed out that the current cost of PMS at filling stations should be around N900/litre if there were no subsidy on the commodity.

 

This price, according to them, is because of the recent appreciation of the naira against the United States dollar.

 

The pump price of petrol is currently between N600 and N700/litre depending on the area of purchase.

 

El-Rufai had told journalists in Maiduguri on Monday that many citizens were not aware that the government had reintroduced the PMS subsidy.

 

“The keyword in leadership, in my view, is pragmatism. You should be pragmatic. So when you make a policy, you start implementing it, and it doesn’t seem to work well. You should have the humility to stand back and say this is not working, and you modify it,” the former governor stated.

 

Reacting to this on Wednesday, oil dealers under the aegis of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, stated that what the former governor said was not far from the truth.

 

They argued that the subsidy on petrol kept rising as the exchange rate of the United States dollar increased, stressing that the government spent more on the PMS subsidy at the time the dollar exchanged for about N1,500.

 

The marketers, however, noted that since the local currency started appreciating against the dollar, the subsidy on PMS had been on the decline.

 

This, according to them, is because the dollar remains the major component that influences the cost of petrol, as Nigeria imports the commodity through NNPC Ltd.

 

The Public Relations Officer, IPMAN, Chief Ukadike Chinedu, told our correspondent that petrol prices at the pumps should be around N900/litre.