The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, and other oil and gas stakeholders have said that the current N145 per liter petrol price is no longer feasible and that the price will have to go up.
According to the oil marketers, a further price increase in the petrol price is not insensitivity but rather just simple law of economics, and the availability of Petrol may not be constrained again.
Mr. Chinedu Okoronkwo, the National President, IPMAN, in a statement said, “But I will advise for total deregulation. The price moderation, which is the cap placed is not healthy for the petroleum industry to grow.
“There are people who have the FOREX to bring product and sell. By so doing, FOREX will crash. But when the industry is over protected like ours, the current challenges will be unending. The market force should drive the price.”
He added, “If the refineries are working to a good capacity like 70 percent, the product will not be less than N130 per litre. We should focus on making the refineries work. Because by the time you keep on importing, FOREX challenges will keep on re-occurring and there would no head way.
“The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC should ensure that the refineries are working, as well as the government should grant all support needed to ensure that they work so the country can avert all of the turbulence hitting the petroleum sector as well as the economy.”
Meanwhile, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu and the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Maikanti Baru, on Monday assured Nigerians there were no immediate plans to increase fuel prices.
