By Adaobi Rhema Oguejiofor
The Federal Government, through the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), has said that it would not place any price cap on the sale of petroleum products at the pump in the country. NMDPRA also revealed that it is now ready to issue licenses to people who are interested in importing fuel.
This was disclosed on Tuesday by the Authority’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Farouk Ahmed, while speaking to journalists after a meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in his office at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Ahmed said that the Federal Government would not cap the oil price and also appealed to oil marketers to open their petrol stations and depots in order to sell to the public, as they will soon get the government’s directive from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.
In his own words, “I cannot tell you the exact price because the market is deregulated. Therefore, it is going to be based on delivery. The NNPCL will tell all the companies their transfer price which will translate into what the pump price will be.”
He made it clear that the NMDPRA and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) will make sure that consumers are not taken advantage of, adding that the Authority is ready to issue licenses to those that are interested in importing fuel into the country in order to ease the burden on NNPC as the sole importer of the product.
Ahmed assured that the criteria for importing fuel will be the same as those importing kerosene and diesel, as, according to him, ” there are a lot of conditions to be met before one can be given a license to import petrol.”
