The Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari, has disclosed that without fuel subsidy, the Premium Motor Spirit, known better as petrol may cost N410 per litre.
This is as he disclosed that the national oil company cannot sustain the current price of N170 per litre.
Kyari said this on Wednesday at the Legislative Transparency and Accountability Summit organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Anti-Corruption in Abuja.
According to him, without the current subsidy on petrol, the actual importation and retail cost would be at N410 per litre.
“It is not possible for you to buy fuel at N170 when your actual cost is thrice that value. For instance, today, when PMS comes into this country, we transfer to marketers at N113 per litre for us to ensure N165 at the pump, so you must sell at N113 to them to be able to deliver at N165.
“That means whatever the cost, anything after that value, that is subsidy. Somebody has to pay for it. Everyone knows the price of PMS around the world. There is nowhere today that you can land a litre of PMS to the pumps at the N445 exchange rate, it is not possible,” he said.
“In some places, you are subsidizing up to N290 on every litre. With this regime, it is impossible for you to avoid all the wrong things that are happening. Round tripping, cross-border smuggling, document forgery-anywhere you have arbitrage, you will have these issues,” Kyari added.
