...PPPRA Fixes Price at N41.50 Per Litre
DPR gives ultimatum, shorts four stations
By Mike Oduniyi in Lagos and Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja
The Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) has directed oil marketing companies to sell petrol at N41.50 a litre. The directive was in compliance with the Tuesday ruling of the Federal High Court in Abuja which ordered the Federal Government to revert to pre-February price of petrol. The court ruling also compelled Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to halt the strike action.
Also the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), which has sealed off four fuel stations in Abuja, gave marketers up till end of today to revert to the pre-February prices or face stiff sanctions.
The PPPRA, in a letter dispatched to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corpo-ration (NNPC) and the marketers yesterday, said ex-depot price of premium motor spirit (petrol) should revert to N33.50 per litre from N38.50, while NNPC mega stations should sell the fuel at N39.50 a litre.
The confusion over the real price of fuel as at February 9, was held responsible for the inability of the government and NLC to honour the court ruling. While the NLC-led strike entered its third day today, marketers are yet to fully effect changes in the pumps.
Also while the court ruling had been interpreted to mean that petrol should sell at N38 per litre, marketers kicked against this position, insisting the fuel price was higher than that.
The General Manager, Group Public Affairs of the NNPC, Dr. Levi Ajuonuma, confirmed to THISDAY, the N41.50 per litre price of petrol fixed by the PPPRA.
Ajuonoma said NNPC depots had been instructed accordingly to load fuel at the new rate of N33.50 a litre.
"Since the clarification by the PPPRA, compliance by marketers has increased considerably. In Abuja here, most major and independent marketers have complied," he added.
Marketers said in Lagos that the strike observed by members of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association (PENGASSAN) and the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), slowed down compliance with the court order.
According to an industry official, while the striking workers were actually the ones to effect the change at the pumps, the outlets had also remained closed because there was no fuel loading at the Apapa depot to supply the stations.
In Abuja, however, the DPR yesterday sealed off four of the fuel stations found to have failed to revert to the February pump price.
The team, which was led by the Deputy Director, Safety and Environment, Mr. Godwin Billy Agha, drove round major streets of the FCT and environs monitoring marketers' compliance with the court order.
Agha in company of the Abuja Operations Controller, Alhaji Babagoro Muazu, and another Assistant Director, Mr. Christian Amaechi, visited several filling stations, conducting spot checks on their meters to ascertain how much they are selling and whether their meters are in order or not.
One of the four filling stations closed were Advance Link Petroleum located along Olusegun Obasanjo Way, near New Market, Wuse.
The team on arrival at the station discovered that the attendants actually fixed the price at N42.50 per litre but were found to be selling half litre in place of a litre of fuel.
On interrogation by DPR officials, the attendants took to their heels which prompted the team to seal off the station.
At the other three stations, it was found out that they refused to sell products to customers even when they still had enough to dispense.
Speaking to newsmen later, Agha said that the exercise would continue until the marketers complied fully with the directive on price reduction.
In Lagos the Director of DPR, Mr. Mac Ofurhie, who led a team of inspectors from the department on a surveillance tour of petrol stations in Lagos yesterday, warned that marketers risked sanctions if by end of today, their stations did not comply with the government directive.
The DPR team visited Oando, Mobil and AP petrol stations on the Lagos Island, but the outlets remained closed. The team's visit to NNPC mega station at Ikoyi showed that while the station had changed its pumps to N40 per litre of petrol, it was however, not selling the product.
Some industry sources also hinted yesterday that the hazy picture on how the losses that would be incurred by the marketers in crashing fuel prices will be recouped was also largely responsible for their lukewarm attitude in complying with the court order.
An authoritative source said the marketers were indeed awaiting clarification on the issue from the NNPC since the directive to revert to the old price was given by the PPPRA.
"The marketers will surely record substantial losses from fuel bought at N38.50 per litre from the NNPC as well as imports that landed at N51 a litre. Yet no letter has gone out explaining how these losses will be mitigated," said the source.
THISDAY gathered that the NNPC and marketers are scheduled to meet today in Abuja on the issue.
Meanwhile, acting depot chief of the NNPC in Ibadan, Engineer Odufale Olatunji, yesterday directed independent petroleum marketers in Oyo State to immediately revert to the old pump price of N41 per litre as directed by the Federal Government.
Olatunde said his depot had already complied with the directive and that the onus is on the marketers to do so in the interest of the nation.
According to him, the new rate in the depot are, PMS N33.50k, AGO - N32.50k and DPK - N31.50k. "The lifting of petroleum products at new rate has already started and the marketers are expected to reflect the new rates," he said.
|
