The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) yesterday warned petrol marketers not to sell the Premium Motor Spirit above the new pump prices.
The agency threatened to impose sanctions on errant marketers, which may include withdrawal of licenses and all the benefits of participation in Petroleum Support Fund Scheme.
The Assistant General Manager and Head of Operations of PPPRA, Mr. Victor Shidok, who led the delegation from the agency to enforce and monitor compliance with the new prices in the Federal Capiatl Territory (FCT), Abuja, made these known yesterday.
The Federal Government had earlier announced that from January 1, 2016, all retail stations of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) will start selling petrol at N86 per litre while others will sell at N86.50k against the previous official price of N87 per litre.
Speaking with reporters during the exercise, Shidok warned that government would not tolerate any deviation from the new directive.
He said the monitoring exercise, which is simultaneously going on across the country, was conceived in conjunction with the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) to ensure that Nigerians are not shortchanged.
Shidok, who led a team of officials from the PPPRA, noted that there was 100 per cent compliance in Abuja, although the team was yet to reach the outskirts where he feared there might be challenges with regard to total compliance.
He said: “This whole exercise is to ensure that the marketers comply with the new pump price. You know usually when we have a change in pump price we go round to monitor compliance.
“We have been to 10 filling stations and we are still going round to make sure that we cover as much as possible. Welcome to our project, where all the best gambling sites from all over the world are collected.
“Good enough, in all the stations we have visited, both majors and NNPC mega stations, there has been 100 per cent compliance.
“But we shall go up to the outskirts because that is where our concern is. The challenge may likely be on the outskirts.
“All those we have visited say they have received directive from their head offices. We are in touch with the leaderships of oil marketers in the country.
“This is a nationwide exercise. All our staff are in the field across the country and we are doing this at depot level in conjunction with the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR). They are also out to do a similar exercise because whenever we have a change in the downstream, all the regulatory agencies come out to ensure there is total compliance.
“The law spelt out penalty where you have deviants to whatever directive is issued. Any deviant may lose the benefits of participating in Petroleum Support Fund Scheme, because we may withdraw such people from participating.
“And since we are working in conjunction with DPR, your licence may be withdrawn, apart from other measures that we are likely going to take to ensure that Nigerians are not shortchanged.”
Meanwhile, the PPPRA has approved importation of three million metric tonnes of petrol in the first quarter of the year.
The NNPC was granted 78 per cent of the total volume for the period while the balance of 22 per cent will be supplied by other oil marketing companies.
According to Farouk, a couple of elements that were affected by the price review include traders’ margin, which was revised downwards from N1.47 per litre to zero; lightering expenses (N4.07/litre to N2.00/litre) charges by the Nigerian Ports Authority (N0.77/litre to N0.36/litre); jetty throughput charges, (N0.80/litre to N0.40/litre); storage charge (N3.00/litre to N1.50/litre); bridging fund (N5.85/litre to N4.00/litre) and ex-depot price (N77.66/litre to N77.00/litre).
Other elements, such as retailers’ margin, were, however, reviewed upwards from N4.60/litre to N5.00/litre; transporters from N2.99/litre to N3.05/litre; dealers’ margin from N1.75/litre to N1.95/litre.“
Accordingly, the ex-depot price of PMS shall be N77.00k per litre while the pump price shall be N86.50k per litre – in line with the prevailing market trend.
