• Says threat of strike premature
• Says no plans to reinstall subsidy regime
• Says Nigeria’s pump price still the cheapest in ECOWAS region
From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
President Bola Tinubu has assured the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) that there will be no further price increase in the petroleum motor spirit (PMS) otherwise known as petrol.
This is even as he described as premature the threat by the NLC that its members will commence a nationwide strike without any formal notice if marketers increased the pump price of petrol without concluding the ongoing negotiations.
Briefing State House Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, he quoted the President as saying that there is a need on all sides to ensure that fact finding and diligence is done on what the current state of the downstream and midstream petroleum industry is before any threats or conclusions are arrived at or issued.
According to the presidential spokesman, “the official position is that there is no increase in prices at this time and that Mr. President is convinced based on information before him that we can maintain current pricing without reversing our deregulation policy by swiftly cleaning up existing inefficiencies within the midstream and downstream Petroleum sector.”
The NLC President, Joe Ajaero, had on Monday admonished the Federal Government to stop the falling value of the naira.
The threat by the organised labour followed hints by oil marketers, on Sunday, that the cost of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, would rise to between N680/litre and N720/litre in the coming weeks should the dollar continue to trade between N910 and N950 at the parallel market.
The marketers said dealers seeking to import PMS were being forced to put the plans on hold due to the scarcity of foreign exchange to import the commodity.
The warning came barely one week after the local currency crossed the N900/dollar ceiling, with the naira selling at over N945/dollar at the parallel market on Friday.
Oil dealers said the CBN Importers and Exporters official window for foreign exchange, which boasts of a lower exchange rate of about $740/litre, had remained illiquid and unable to provide the $25m to $30m required for the importation of PMS by dealers.
Ngelale giving details of what transpired during the meeting with President Tinubu said: “This morning, I have the privilege of sitting down with his excellency president Bola Tinubu. As we discussed the current unfolding situation in the country as it relates to fuel supply and demand.
“The President wishes first to state that it is incumbent upon all stakeholders in the country to hold their peace. We have heard very recently from the organized labour movement in the country with respect to their most recent threat.
“We believe that the threat was premature and that there is a need on all sides to ensure that fact finding and diligence is done on what the current state of the downstream and midstream petroleum industry is before any threats or conclusions are arrived at or issued.
“Secondly, Mr. President, wishes to assure Nigerians following the announcement by the NNPC limited just yesterday that there will be no increase in the pump price of petroleum motor spirit anywhere in the country. We repeat, the president affirms that there will be no increase in the pump price of petroleum motor spirit.
“We also wish to affirm that the President is determined to maintain competitive tension within all sub sectors of the petroleum industry. He is determined to ensure that our policy drawn up as well as policy implemented follows the cue that there will not be any single one entity dominating the market.
“The market has been deregulated. It has been liberalized and we are moving forward in that direction without looking back.
“The President also wishes to affirm that there are presently inefficiencies within the midstream and downstream petroleum sub sectors that once very swiftly addressed and cleaned up will ensure that we can maintain prices where they are without having to resort to a reversal of this administration’s deregulation policy in the petroleum industry.
“I wish at this juncture to also provide a set of graphics which the President has authorized me to share with Nigerians that otherwise would be confidential. These are graphics supplied to Mr. president by the NNPCL.
“In the graphic, what you will find is the present cost of refined petroleum motor spirit at the pump in each of the West African nations that neighbour us and I’ll just name some for example, even as I know, you will be showing your audiences the graphics, which the president has graciously approved for public release today.
“Senegal at pump price today of N1,273 equivalent per liter, Guinea at N1,075 per liter, Côte d’ Ivore at N1,048 per litre equivalent in their currency, Mali N1,113 per litre, Central African Republic N1,414 per litre, Nigeria is presently averaging between N568 and N630 per litre.
“We are presently the cheapest, most affordable purchasing state in the West African sub-region by some distance. There is no country that is below N700 per liter.
“So this is the backdrop we have seen that at the inception of our deregulation policy as of June 1 as Mr. President took office, we have seen PMS consumption in the country drop immediately from 67 million litres per day consumption, down to 46 million litres per day consumption. The impact is evident.
“What it also does mean though, is that we are not at the end of the tunnel. There is still a bit of darkness to travel through to get toward the light. And we are pleading with Nigerians to please be patient with us. And as we promised from the beginning we will be open with Nigerians will be transparent with them. And we are ready to show you exactly what it is that our nation is facing with respect to the illiquidity in the market in terms of foreign exchange, as a result of what is now known to have been a gross mismanagement of the Central Bank of Nigeria over the course of several years preceding this time.