Buhari government reduces petrol price by N5.56
The President Muhammadu Buhari government of Nigeria has announced a reduction in the pump price of premium motor spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol.
The fuel price, which was recently hiked to N168 per litre, has now been reduced to N162.44.
This means Nigerians can begin saving N5.56 on every litre of petrol purchased from December 14 when the new price comes into effect.
Labour minister Chris Ngige disclosed this at the end of a meeting with labour leaders which began around 9pm on Monday and ended at 1:30 am on Tuesday.
The product presently dispenses at N168, following the decision of the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC) to increase the ex-depot price of petrol from N147.67 per litre to N155.17 per litre in November.
The ex-depot price is the price at which the PPMC sells the product to marketers at the depots.
The minister said a technical committee had been set up to ensure price stability in the industry.
Ngige stated that the committee, which would report back to the larger house on January 25, would appraise the market forces and other things that would ensure stability in the industry.
Ngige said:
“Our discussion was fruitful, and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), which is the major importer and marketers of petroleum products and customers, have agreed that there will be a slide down of the pump price of PMS and that the price cut will get us about N5 per litre and that the price cut will take effect from next Monday, a week today.”
Ngige explained that the price reduction was not meant to suspend deregulation because it did not affect the price of crude oil but on areas where the NNPC as the main importer had agreed that it could cut costs like freight and demurrage costs.
He said the new price slash was a product of a joint committee of NNPC and labour representatives, which looked into ways of cutting costs.
On the aspect of electricity tariff, both sides agreed to wait till the next meeting date on January 25 to enable the special committee dealing with complaints to conclude their deliberations.
Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) president Ayuba Wabba communicated the position of the minister, saying that both sides reached the agreement.
