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Reduction in fuel price
By Sun News Publishing
Tuesday,
February 3, 2009
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The recent reduction of the pump price of the Premium Motor Spirit
(PMS) otherwise known as petrol from N70 per litre to N65 by the
Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) has been trailed
with partial compliance by many petroleum products marketers across
the country.
Following the crash of the price of crude in the international market
and the calls by Nigerians for a price slash of petroleum products,
the Presidency, through the PPPRA, ordered the price slash to reflect
the change in crude price and cushion the effect of the global economic
meltdown on Nigerians.
Apparently, this order by the government did not go down well with
some marketers as the first day for the implementation of the new
price regime witnessed substantial non-compliance in some filling
stations in Lagos and other major cities in the country.
While some filling stations in Lagos sold at the new price, some
sold at the old price and others closed shops thereby creating artificial
scarcity. The story is not different from other parts of the country
especially in those areas where petrol used to sell beyond the former
pump price of N70.
The situation led to the return of long queues at the few filling
stations that complied with the regulatory agency’s new price
regime. It was even worse in Abuja and environs where black market
operators reportedly had a field day because of artificial scarcity
created by panic buying.
We welcome the new price regime, though, the reduction of N5 from
the price of petrol is just mere tokenism. It did not reflect a
significant drop in the price of petrol as expected by Nigerians.
All the same, we commend the government and call on petroleum products
marketers, especially those flouting the new directive, to comply
without further delay.
We believe that what the government has done in slashing the pump
price of petrol at this point in time is in tandem with what any
responsible and responsive government elsewhere should do for its
citizens.
While applauding the government for listening to the yearnings
of the people, we condemn the non-compliance exhibited by some of
the petroleum products marketers. Such attitude, which is often
blamed on the usual Nigerian factor, is borne out of greed, avarice
and selfishness.
It is further propelled by the urge to profiteer. It is therefore
regrettable that the same marketers that would readily comply when
there is an upward price movement of petroleum products are the
ones now foot-dragging over a mere reduction of N5. Let the marketers
eschew greed and adjust to the new fixed price.
Beyond this, the government should step up efforts to get our refineries
to work at full capacity. In fact, we have no good reasons for continuous
importation of refined petroleum products, which we can handle domestically
if there is the political will to do so.
We stand to gain a lot by refining our crude locally. Apart from
petrol, diesel and kerosene, our pharmaceutical companies, textile
and road construction can benefit immensely from some of the by-products
that would be derived if we refine our crude locally.
Besides petrol, it is important that the Department of Petroleum
Resources (DPR) ensures that other petroleum products such as diesel
and kerosene now being sold by marketers beyond the approved prices
are sold at the official prices.
The approved pump price of diesel is N73.37k per litre but now being
sold at N90 and above while kerosene officially pegged at N50 per
litre now sells N70 and above. This is unacceptable. To ensure that
the consuming public is not shortchanged any further, we enjoin
the DPR to constantly monitor the operations of petroleum products
marketers.
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