The Federal Government on Sunday announced a
reduction in the pump price of petrol by N10 from N97 to N87 per litre.
The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs.
Diezani Alison-Madueke, announced the reduction while briefing State House
correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Alison-Madueke said the reduction, which took
immediate effect, was because of the recent drastic fall in the prices of crude
oil in the international market.
The minister further directed the Petroleum
Products Pricing Regulatory Agency and the Directorate of Petroleum Resources
to immediately effect the change.
Alison-Madueke said, “As you may be aware,
there has been a lot of volatility in the price of petroleum products,
particularly crude oil, over the last few months. Invariably, this has meant
that the price of the product in Nigeria has also been greatly impacted.
“It is as a result of this, under the
approval and directive of Mr. President and in line with Section 6 Clause 1 of
the Petroleum Act, that it is my responsibility as the minister of Petroleum to
announce that there will be a reduction in the pump price of petrol (Premium
Motor Spirit) by N10.
“Therefore, the reduction will be from N97
per litre to N87 per litre effective as from midnight, Sunday January 18, 2015.
“In line with this, I have directed the
Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency and the Directorate of Petroleum
Resources to ensure that there is strict adherence to this new pricing regime
as soon as it takes effect from midnight Sunday, January 18, 2015.
“I do hope the entire country will benefit
immensely from this reduction in the pump price of petrol.”
The minister said the Federal Government had
been watching events carefully in the last two weeks to ensure that volatility
did not destabilise the reduction in price.
She said the government had found it safe to
implement the reduction at this time.
Following prolonged street demonstrations
against the decision of the government to remove subsidy on the product per
litre as announced on January 1, 2012, it was forced to cut the pump price from
N141 to N97.
The Federal Government, through the PPPRA,
had before now maintained the N97 fixed in 2012 after wide protests against the
decision of the government to withdraw subsidy on the product.
A banker and energy analyst who handles
transactions for fuel importers in Nigeria calculated that the product ought
not to sell for more than N84 at filling stations across the country, thereby
automatically wiping off the government’s subsidy on petrol.
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