October 11, (THEWILL) – The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), has berated the Federal Government over its denial that there is currently no payment of subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly called petrol.
President Bola Tinubu had on May 29, during his inauguration as President at Eagle Square, Abuja, announced the effective end of the subsidy regime.
Amid increase in the price of crude at International market, petroleum marketers in Nigeria, in their threat to further increase the pump price of petrol, even as the marketers confirmed that landing cost of the product has increased at depot, had backed down on their action.
While THEWILL had earlier reported the reintroduction and indeed secret payment of subsidy on PMS, National President of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), Festus Osifo, on Friday, also claimed that the government had restored subsidy on petrol, despite the official government policy of ending the subsidy regime since May.
Petrol currently sells between N580/litre and N617/litre depending on the area of purchase, as the Federal Government, through its Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), had denied reintroducing PMS subsidy.
Speaking on Monday, to State House correspondents after a meeting with President Tinubu, Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of the NNPCL, Mele Kyari, said there is no fuel subsidy at all.
Kyari explained that the lower fuel prices observed in some states were not indicative of a return to fuel subsidy regime. He said the government was recovering its full costs from the imported products.
“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”, Kyari had stated.
But IPMAN has again insisted that the Federal Government is currently paying subsidy on petrol.
Speaking with newsmen on Tuesday, National Secretary of the Association, John Kekeocha, queried the Government for deceiving Nigerians while secretly paying subsidy on PMS.
His words: “I don’t know why the government keeps peddling lies. When they removed the PMS subsidy, a dollar was about N700 and they made us believe that the removal of subsidy would make the supply of products play according to the dictates of demand and supply, looking at forex as the benchmark.
“Now, this is just simple arithmetic, if you removed the subsidy when a dollar was about N700 and today the dollar is more than N1,000, and you are still supplying and giving products at almost the same rate, what is the magic? They are subsidising products as we speak.
“They are spending billions of naira to subsidise products, and because they know that this country may go on fire if Nigerians buy products at about N1,000/litre, they keep twisting facts. Why can’t they come out and tell the world the truth?
“You cannot wake up overnight and remove subsidy without considering the pros and cons, only for you to wake up again and start putting back the subsidy into play secretly, and you think Nigerians will not know.
“I am telling you that in a very short time there will be no product anywhere in this country, apart from the tank farms that have access to diesel.
“This is because many marketers cannot even function well with the cost of diesel. Check the cost of diesel and the cost of supply and distribution. How many marketers can do it and sell at about N600/litre? The cost of landing PMS is over N700/litre.
“When you compute the cost of bringing PMS from Warri to Abuja or other Northern states by an independent marketer, it will land here (North) at more than N700/litre.
“The cost of diesel is now very high and many marketers can’t afford it, and still sell to compete with the tank farm owners who sell at about N617/litre. Consumers cannot see where the product is sold cheap and go to where it is costly.”
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