"No subsidy whatsoever. We are recovering our full cost from the products that we import. We sell to the market and we understand why the marketers are unable to import," an official said.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) Monday said that the Nigerian government has not resumed payment of subsidy on petrol.
The NNPCL group chief executive officer, Mele Kyari, disclosed this to State House correspondents after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Monday.
"No subsidy whatsoever. We are recovering our full cost from the products that we import. We sell to the market and we understand why the marketers are unable to import," Mr Kyari said.
"We hope that they do it very quickly and these are some of the interventions the government is doing. There is no subsidy."
President Tinubu had announced the removal of fuel subsidy in his inaugural speech on 29 May.
Following the announcement, the NNPCL directed its outlets nationwide to sell fuel between N480 and N570 per litre, an almost 200 per cent increase from the initial price below N200, leading to a significant increase in transportation fares and prices of goods and services.
Again in July, petrol pump prices rose to N617 per litre at various outlets of the NNPCL in Abuja and other parts of the country.
At the time, the NNPCL attributed the rise in the petroleum pump prices in the country to 'market forces'.
Mr Kyari noted that with the deregulation of the oil sector, market realities would force the price of petrol up sometimes and at other times force it down.
In August, Mr Tinubu assured Nigerians that there would be no further increase in the pump price of petrol, despite the deregulation of the product.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, disclosed this while briefing journalists in Abuja after a closed-door meeting with the president.
"The president wishes to assure Nigerians, following the announcements by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) just yesterday, that there will be no increase in the pump price of petroleum motor spirit anywhere in the country," the spokesperson said.
"We repeat, the president affirms that there will be no increase in the pump price of petroleum motor spirit."
Mr Tinubu also acknowledged that there are inefficiencies within the downstream sector that are contributing to the fuel price controversy. He assured that all loopholes associated with the smooth delivery of petroleum products in the country will be addressed immediately.
Last Friday, the National President of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), Festus Osifo, said the Nigerian government had restored the subsidy on petrol, despite the official government policy of ending the subsidy regime.
Mr Osifo, who is also the president of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), one of Nigeria's two largest workers union coalitions, while featuring on a Channels Television programme, Politics Today, said due to the cost of crude oil in the international market and the exchange rate, the government still pays subsidies on petrol.
"The government has to come clean. In reality today, there is subsidy because as of when the earlier price was determined, the price of crude in the international market was somewhere around less than $80 to a barrel. But today, it has moved to about $93/94 per barrel for Brent crude. So, because it has moved, then the price (of petrol) also needed to move," Mr Osifo said.
Cost recovery
Speaking on Monday Mr Kyari explained that the government was recovering its full costs from the imported products.
He explained that the occasional queues and lower fuel prices observed in some states were not indicative of a return to the fuel subsidy regime, noting that the full deregulation of the sector had led to competition among marketers, resulting in reduced fuel prices at some stations.
"We have seen in very few states pockets of very low queues. Not unconnected with the road situation that we're seeing the number of blockades on our road crossing products from the southern depots into the northern part of the country and it takes them a much longer time than they do now.
"They have to reroute the trucks around many, many locations for them to be able to reach and that created delays and some supply gaps. But that has been filled and we do not see any of such problems again. And secondly, because of the full deregulation that we have in this sector, marketers are now competing amongst themselves," Mr Kyari said.
He argued that some fuel stations will reduce prices "by two Naira and three Naira so customers will naturally run to the places where you have that reduction in prices" and that creates panic because those who don't know why they are doing it will think that there's something wrong happening, or there's an ominous sign of scarcity.
"Otherwise, there is no challenge. Supply is robust. We have over 1.4 billion litres of product in our hands both marine and land. Also, there are no issues around the delivery of those products into the land. So there is no fear, nothing to bother about," he said.
"But we are also happy that the market forces are now playing out and marketers are competing and of course, there are a few issues we're engaging them to resolve alongside other agencies of government and critical issues around access to foreign exchange."
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Mr Kyari explained further that the government is doing so much to ensure the supply of FX into the market.
"We know that this FX market will stabilize and the current I&E window is around 770. And we know that with those inputs that are already happening, the inputs of the government today will crystallize and also they will come to an equilibrium position in the FX market and this is a dream of this country.
"So they will have a stable FX market, a stable product market where the prices of products will also speak to prices of other commodities. And this is already manifesting and we think this is the economic revolution that this country needs," he said.
The NNPCL had last Friday said it has no intention to increase the pump price of petroleum.
The NNPCL made this known in reaction to speculations in the public domain about the company's plan to raise the petrol pump price from the current N617 per litre to above N700.
"Dear esteemed customers, we at NNPC Retail value your patronage, and we do not have the intention to increase our PMS pump prices as widely speculated.
"Please buy the best quality products at the most affordable prices at our NNPC Retail Stations nationwide," the oil company said.
