Federal government has debunked the rumour that subsidy on petrol will be reintroduced amid the closure of many filling stations nationwide due to various challenges in the downstream oil sector.
It also said the pockets of queues observed by motorists in petrol stations across the country stemmed from hiccups in product distribution from the South to the North, not a lack of supply.
This came as the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited also declared on Monday that it would have gone bankrupt in June this year had it been the President, Bola Tinubu, did not halt subsidy on PMS in May.
The Group Chief Executive Officer, NNPCL, Mele Kyari, told State House Correspondents after an audience with the President at the Aso Rock Villa that fuel subsidy had not been returned.
“No subsidy whatsoever. We are recovering our full cost from the products that we import. We sell to the market, and we understand why the marketers are unable to import. We hope that they do it very quickly and these are some of the interventions the government is doing. There is no subsidy,” he stated.
Kyari’s assertion came barely 48 hours after the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria confirmed the return of fuel subsidy.
Also, oil marketers had repeatedly stated that fuel subsidy had returned, as they explained that the landing cost of petrol as of last week was N720/litre. The commodity is currently sold at between N580/litre and N617/litre, depending on the area of purchase.
NNPCL also announced that Nigeria would become a net exporter of refined petroleum products by next year, going by efforts to revamp its refineries.
Addressing journalists about the gradual return of fuel queues, on Monday, the NNPCL boss said, “We have seen in a very few states pockets of very low queues not unconnected with the road situation.
“We’re seeing the number of blockades on our road crossing products from the Southern depots into the Northern part of the country and it takes them much longer than they do now.
“They have to reroute the trucks around many locations for them to be able to reach, creating delays and some supply gaps. But that has been filled and we do not see such problems again.”
While arguing that supply remained robust, Kyari explained that the full deregulation of the downstream sector had created market competition.
He said this phenomenon had led to minuscule price variations across gas stations, with consumers naturally patronising marketers with a lesser pump price.
“You must have noticed some fuel stations will reduce prices by two Naira and three Naira, so customers will naturally run to the places where you have that price reduction.
“That creates panic because those who don’t know why they are doing it will think something wrong is happening.
“Supply is robust. We have over 1.4 billion litres of product, both marine and land. Also, there are no issues around delivering those products onto the land. So, there is no fear, nothing to bother about,” Kyari argued.
