Kachikwu Denies Increasing Pump Price To N97 Per Litre

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, on Thursday dispelled insinuations in some quarters that the Federal Government has concluded plans to increase the pump price of fuel from N87 to N97 per litre as from January 2016.

Speaking during a media parley at the NNPC Towers Abuja, Dr. Kachikwu noted that the discourse has long left the realm of subsidy removal to a more scientific price modulation approach which entails an elastic price mechanism regime to be reviewed periodically to reflect the prevailing international price of crude.

He explained that when operational, the novel price modulation system will place a N97 per litre cap on the price of fuel to ensure that Nigerians are insulated from the vagaries of the global crude price.

“I did not say that refined petroleum products will sell for N97 per litre next year. I said that between a band of N87 and N97 we are going to be looking at prices and today the prices are largely close to N87. So, there is no need to change the price.”

The Minister noted that to determine the price of petroleum products in future, the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Authority, PPPRA, will undertake quarterly review of the crude market situation.

Said he: “I have not put a static figure. PPPRA will have to do the calculation to be able to announce what price of PMS will sell for in January; but we do not anticipate any major shift because of the price of crude today.”