FG To Reduce Petrol To N85 Per litre From January 1, 2016

The Federal Government would on January 1 next year reduce the pump price of the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) to N85 per litre.

The Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu broke the news to journalists in the Port Hacourt Refinery Company (PHRC), where he spent Christmas inspecting the plant.

Asked when would the Federal Government release the new price template of the Petroleum Product Pricing Regulation Agency (PPPRA), he said that he approved the new price for the agency on Thursday.

Pressed to reveal when the new price will become effective, Kachikwu, who is also the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said “like I said, we have done a modulation calculation and it is showing us below N87. I imagine that if PPPRA publishes it today, it will become effective immediately. But the 1st of January, that is when we are looking at.”

According to him, the new price is below the current N87 per litre and it would now convince Nigerians that the pricing modulation that the Federal Government promised to embark on a few days ago was not a trick.

He noted that following government’s analysis and research, it had been realized that the country can fluctuate the fuel market in accordance with the crude oil market fundamentals.

Justifying government’s reasons for scrapping the Petroleum Support Fund otherwise known as oil subsidy, Kachikwu explained that government can no longer afford to subsidize the product following the fraud that has attended its operation.

He added that it has become clear that government earnings are dipping on daily basis....

Dailypost reportage.