By Michael Eboh

The Federal Government, yesterday, insisted that there was no plan to hike the price of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, also known as petrol, above N145 per litre, stating that it is currently drawing up stiff sanctions to be meted out to marketers that were found selling above the approved price range.

Kachikwu

Address newsmen in Abuja on reports from the Senate hearing on the fuel crisis, that petrol price was to sell for N180 per litre, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Ibe Kachikwu, appealed for an end to politicization of the fuel crisis and also speculation on petrol prices.

He said, “I want to make it very clear, there is no intended price increase. Petrol price is N145 per litre at the p ump price, it remains that; nothing has changed. There is no mandate to increase that. The President’s mandate on this issue is very specific; we are not increasing price from N145.

“We are working very hard, to see that, working with those price parameters, we can provide Nigerians with refined petroleum products all the time, avoid fuel queues and ensure that our business partners in the private sector participate actively.”

Kachikwu explained that it became necessary to restate the Federal Government’s stance on this issue, because in most instances, some of these rumour mongering all add to the difficulties NNPC had in terms of being able to control price speculation.

He said, “I thought we should make this very clear. This is not a matter for speculation. Anybody who does speculation on it is not being helpful to Nigerians. They have already gone through a very difficult Christmas period. We are working night and day to try and find solutions.

“It is not a political issue; people should step out of that goal post. We want to provide succour to Nigerians, we want to provide product at N145. That is the presidential mandate; that is the Federal Executive Council mandate. Nobody is having a deliberation on that.”

The Minister noted that the essence of the meeting at the Senate and the committee set up by President Muhammadu Buhari a few days ago, which was still meeting, was to find mechanisms to ensure that fuel queues do not come back to Nigeria and to ensure that petrol stations across the country are wet so that product is available at every time for Nigerians.

He added that the deliberations was also aimed at ensuring that issues that led to private marketers pulling out from participation in fuel import are dealt with, so  that the marketers can participate effectively in the supply of petroleum products in the country, all within the parameters o f N145 per litre pump price.

Kachikwu also disclosed that the Federal Government is considering stiff penalties for marketers that were caught sabotaging the efforts of the government at ensuring steady supply of the commodity and who sold above the stipulated pump price.

“It is very important to make this go universally clear, we are actually looking at steps for those who have breached these processes, what we can do to penalise them and also set very stiff penalties for those who go to sell above N145.

“Going forward, after the recommendations, they would be very massive enforcement; very firm position on this issue; very firm tracking of product in this country. Nobody deserves this sort of up and down in terms of product supply in this country,” he declared.

Kachikwu also stated that part of the committee’s mandate was to review the pricing template for petrol and see what changes could be effected to ensure that marketers resume fuel importation within the N145 per litre pump price window.

He said “As part of this committee’s work, we are also reviewing the template to see whether there are things we need to do, all to help us ensure that we can accommodate sales at the N145 per litre window. That is also going to be looked at. The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, is working on that and it is heading a special committee on it.”