The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, has denied a statement credited to him, in which he was quoted to have said that Nigeria currently incurs over N1.4 trillion till date as under-recovery of losses on the importation and sale of petrol.
Under recovery, is a situation whereby the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) incurrs the cost of the differential between the official pump price of premium motor spirit, also known as petrol, and the actual cost of the commodity. It is also another subtle term for subsidy, since the official price of PMS is lower than the actual market price.
A statement by the Director of Press, and Public Relations, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Mr. Idang Alibi, said Kachikwu had at a workshop on the Harmonization of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Regulatory Requirements last week in Abuja, disclosed that there was some form of under-recovery, adding that, the details of the under-recovery figures and circumstances surrounding it will be provided by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
The Minister re-emphasized that the NNPC was in a best position to give the accurate figures of the amount of under-recovery involved as that is the body currently importing most of the Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) retailed in Nigeria.