By Adedapo Adesanya
There seems to be confusion in the government of President Muhammadu Buhari as two agencies in the ministry he oversees, the Ministry of Petroleum Resources; the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) are not displaying synergy.
On Friday, Nigerians woke up to the news that the price of petrol in the country has been increased to N212.61 per litre. The increment was announced by the PPPRA in a report published on its website on Thursday night, a copy obtained by Business Post.
The hike in the pump price came despite assurances from the NNPC that Nigerians will not pay more to purchase the product, a derivative of the crude oil that is abundant in the country.
The PPPRA, which is the agency responsible for fixing prices of petroleum products in Nigeria, released its price template for petrol for the month of March 2021 calling on marketers to sell a litre of premium motor spirit (PMS) or petrol between N209.61 and N212.61, while the ex-depot price was fixed at N206.42 per litre.
This new policy meant that Nigerians would buy fuel at N212 per litre compared to N162 – N171 from the previous price, an increase of over 23 per cent.
The decision was immediately met with outrage as Nigerians lamented that the decision would further create hardships in the country.
However, on Friday morning, the NNPC rushed to social media to announce that there was no increase in the ex-depot price of the commodity for the month, backing a promise it had made in a statement released in February.
Business Post has now gathered that the PPPRA has deleted the price template it put out last night. It was observed that the document was removed after the NNPC maintained that there has not been an increase in the price of the product.
This has left many to wonder if there is no synergy between the national oil company and the pricing regulator.
The PPPRA said the expected ex-coastal price of petrol for the month is N175.73 per litre.
But with average lightering expenses, NPA, NIMASA charge, jetty thru’ put charge, storage charge and average financing cost fees which totals N13.88, the landing cost of petrol in Nigeria stood at N189.61 per litre.
The PPPRA further said the fees collected as wholesalers’ margin, administrative charge, transporters allowance, bridging fund and marine transport average, the ex-depot price stood at N206.42 per litre and with a retailers margin of N6.19 per litre, the price band was fixed at N209.61/litre and N212.61/litre.
See a copy of the petrol price template released by the PPPRA on Thursday night below;
Dipo Olowookere 
Modupe Gbadeyanka