President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration has jacked up the fuel price to N212.61 per litre and official confirmed the return of fuel subsidy.
The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, on Thursday, announced the new pump price of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, also known as petrol, at N212.61 per litre, for the month of March.
According to the PPPRA’s PMS guiding price, released to stakeholders, the new price is supposed to commence from March 1st and run till March 31st, 2021.
The Agency said, the fact that the price of the commodity is still being sold at an average of N170 in petrol stations across the country, meant that the Federal Government, through the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC is spending an average of N42 to subsidise a litre of the commodity for Nigerians.
The PPPRA confirmed that fuel subsidy actually officially returned in February 2021, as according to the downstream oil sector regulator, the actual pump price of PMS for February was between N183.74 and N186.74 per litre, meaning that the Federal Government paid an average of N16 per litre for PMS in the month.
According to the PPPRA, based on the average cost for the period, February 1st to 28th 2021, and an average FMDQ Importer and Exporter (I&E) Naira/US Dollar Exchange Rate of N403.80, the expected retail price of PMS for March 2021, stands at N209.61 per litre and N212.61 per litre, being the lower and upper band respectively.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has insisted that there is no increment in the ex-depot price of Premium Motor Spirit also known as petrol this month despite a template released by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency that the new price of petrol has reached N212.61 per litre.
