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| Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu |
Kachikwu said this after receiving an
award at an event organised by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory
Agency in Abuja on Sunday.
NNPC had been selling fuel at N141 but on Thursday, November 3 increased it by N4 to the government benchmark of N145.
He said, “It is obviously humbling and
too early in the day to receive an award and to be recognised so soon in
some of the things we are trying to do. It is humbling, I thank them
very much.
“First, I am not aware that the NNPC has
increased price. I need to look into that. It is a bit of surprise for
me, because there are processes in doing this, if they have done that,
it means they are doing it wrongly.
“Let me find out what the facts are.”
Kachikwu said the increase could be as a result of foreign exchange differentiation.
He said there were areas within
government controlled aspects like payments to the Ministry of Transport
and the Nigerian Ports Authority that were foreign currency
denominated.
He said, “Having said that, the reality
is that what we did at the point where we did some liberalisation, was
to enable the free market float the price.
“Obviously, as you look at foreign
exchange differentiation and all that, it would impact. The worst thing
you could do is to go back to an era where we basically were fixing
prices.
“What we ought to be doing was watching
the prices, making sure that they are not taking advantage of the common
man; making sure that the template is respected.
“One of the things I think we had hoped
to do, which we should still do, before we embark on any price increase
is to work on those templates.”
He, however, promised to discuss with industry operators.
He said, “Those who are investing must
be able to predict the pricing methodologies, the pricing consequences
and the actions, to be able to justify their investments.
“At the end of the day, I think PPPRA is
the one that has the authority to say it is time the template justified
some level of movement.
“Otherwise, you have a crisis of individual decisions on pricing.”
On the issue of insecurity in the Niger
Delta, Kachikwu assured that President Muhammad Buhari was committed to
finding lasting peace in that region.
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