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The Federal Government will no longer be releasing guiding price bands for the sale of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, at filling stations.
The Executive Secretary, Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), Abdulkadir Saidu, disclosed this in Abuja while responding to questions from journalists during a briefing at the agency’s headquarters.
Saidu, who was represented by the agency’s General Manager, Administration and Human Resources, Victor Shidok, said that based on the development , the downstream arm of the oil and gas sector had been fully deregulated, adding that going forward, petrol price would be determined by the forces of demand and supply and the international cost of crude oil.
He, however, noted that the role of the agency would be to ensure that oil marketers do not profiteer, as every petrol dealer was, henceforth free to source for product and fix their price.
“This, however, must be in accordance with our code of conduct because as a regulator, it is our duty to protect the consumer and operators must abide by our codes,” Saidu stated.
He also confirmed Sunday that oil marketers were not currently importing petrol because of the scarcity of foreign exchange.
In March, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved that the pump price of petrol be modulated in line with happenings in the global oil market.
At the time, it said this was a step in deregulating the downstream sector as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) would no longer absorb the difference between the landing cost and the pegged retail price.