Nigerians might soon heave a sigh of relief from the excruciating effect of the recession that is biting hard in the country if the federal government heeds the call of the House of Representatives to sell petrol at N70.
This is because the House at plenary yesterday resolved to urge the Petroleum Products Prices Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), to review the current price template for premium motorized spirit (PMS), with a view to bringing down the price of the product popularly referred to as petrol by Nigerians.
This was one of the three prayers answered by the House in a Motion sponsored by Abubakar Fulata titled: “Urgent need to review the petroleum price template.”
Fulata noted the widely circulating rumour of a possible hike in the price of PMS in the country, which though has been denied by the federal government through the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources is coming at a time when the nation is going through difficult times occasioned by dwindling revenues, high inflation rate, unemployment and general fall in the standard of living of many Nigerians.
The lawmaker also noted that the current template for the price of PMS could be reviewed downwards without it affecting the profit margin of marketers and transporters and also contribute to reduce the current inflationary trend in the economy.
Giving a graphic view to buttress his point, Rep. Fulata said he was aware that the current cost of freighting PMS stands at N109.1; lightering expenses is N4.56; NPA charges is N0.84; NIMASA charges is N0.22; Financing is N2.51 and Jetty put charges at N0.60.
Furthermore, storage charges- N2.00, Retailers margin- N6.00, Transport Allowance- N3.36, Dealers margin- N2.36, Bridging Fund- N6.20 and Marine transport average put at N0.15 bringing the total cost to N137.81.
The Jigawa born legislator further informed the House that the landing cost of PMS remains at N119.74, while the distribution cost and margins of marketers I N18.37, thus, the total of both the landing and distribution costs is N138.11, while markers are allowed to sell the product within the range of N140-N145 per litre.
Equally, Fulata notes that over 90% of the current price of PMS in the country is accounted for by transport related charges at N124.34 out of N138.11.
He said that he was aware that foreign vessels charge higher for lifting the PMS because Nigerian carriers which were supposed to lift 50% of the products lack the capacity to do so.
He therefore observed that the provision of N4.56 in the price template for lightering services was unnecessary since as line with international practice, all ships are supposed to dock at the harbor unlike in Nigeria where the water in the harbours is shallow and therefore in dire need of dredging.
He blamed the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) for refusing to carry out dredging despite collecting N0.84 for every litre of petrol thereby costing Nigerian users the sum of N4.56 for every litre of petrol they buy.
He said cognizant must be taken that bridging is supposed to be an annual event only when refineries are carrying out their turn around maintenance which should not exceed three months but that vandalizing of pipelines has made bridging to be a permanent feature. He therefore adduced that if the pipelines linking the various depots and refineries could be fixed and secured, the bridging fund could be reduced to N2.00 per litre instead of the current N6.20.
Also that a realistic template would bring down the price of petrol to N70.04.
The House therefore urged the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to dredge all harbours within a period of one year to enable ships dock in them.
To this end, the House resolved to set up an Ad-hoc Committee to interface with the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources on the review of the price of PMS and such related matters and to report back to it within eight weeks for further legislative action.
