The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) says the Federal Government is no longer paying subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly known as petrol.

The NNPCL said contrary to insinuations on social media, the federal government was no longer paying subsidy to any person or group for bringing petroleum products into the country.

The NNPCL Group Managing Director, Mele Kyari, disclosed this to State House Correspondents in Abuja on Monday, October 9, 2023.

Kyari said: “No subsidy whatsoever. We are recovering our full cost from the products that we import. We sell to the market.

“We understand why marketers are unable to import. We hope that they begin to do so very quickly and these are some of the interventions government is making. There is no subsidy.”

The NNPCL boss further stated that the queues witnessed across some states recently were due to bad roads that had made transporters to divert the product to other routes.

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He added: “We have seen in very few states pockets of very low queues. This is not unconnected with the road situation and that’s why we’re seeing some blockades on our roads.

“Moving the products from the southern depots into the northern part of the country takes them much longer time now than it used to be.

“They have to re-route their trucks around many locations for them to be able to reach their destinations and that created delays and some supply gaps. But, that has been filled and we do not see any of such problems again.

“Secondly, because of the full deregulation that we have in this sector, marketers are now competing amongst themselves.”

The NNPCL boss said some of the queues were also caused by the preference of customers to patronise filling stations that offered low prices.

Kyari stated: “You must have noticed that some fuel stations will reduce their prices by N2 or N3. So customers will naturally run to the places where you have that reduction in prices and probably create panic.

“This is because those who don’t know why they are doing it will think that there’s something happening or that there’s an ominous sign of scarcity.”

He, however, disclosed that there are over 1.4 billion litres of petrol available for local consumption, both on the seas and on land, adding that there is no cause for alarm.

The Star