PENGASSAN: Petrol’ll sell at N400/litre after subsidy removal

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) says a litre of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, would sell between N360 and N400 after the removal of the fuel subsidy.

The PENGASSAN President, Festus Osifo, made this known while speaking with journalists on the sidelines of the association’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Abuja on Tuesday.

While a litre of petrol is currently sold at N184 at some parts of the country and slightly higher in other regions, the Federal Government had said the fuel subsidy would be removed in June 2023.

Speaking on the development, Osifo said: “Today, the sole importer of PMS into Nigeria is the NNPC. The NNPC is using an exchange rate of the CBN which gives about N400 to N450 depending on the day and depending on the window that you are looking at.

“So, if you compute that into the model today, PMS should be selling for a region of about N360 to N400.”

The PENGASSAN President further stated that functional local refineries will make fuel affordable for Nigerians and also boost the country’s employment rate.

Osifo stressed that the money removed from fuel subsidy could be used to end the perennial strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), adding: “While maintaining our support for the full deregulation of the sector and the significant milestone achieved in this regard, we counsel that efforts be made to increase the pace of the current rehabilitation exercise of refineries and get them back on track in due time.”

He noted that PENGASSAN has directed all its organs across the country to make fuel available for Nigerians, saying the association would withdraw the licenses of any member found wanting of hoarding petrol.

The Star