Fuel marketers succumb to pressure, agree on N145 per litre

Oil marketers on Wednesday agreed with the Federal Government to allow the pump price of petrol to remain at N145 per litre, reversing their previous stance on the pricing of the commodity.

Recall that the Chairman, Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association, Dapo Abiodun, had earlier stated that the marketers could no longer import petrol at a controlled price of N145 per litre.

But it was gathered in Abuja on Wednesday that the marketers reversed their stance at the meeting of the ad hoc committee set up by the Presidency to get the oil marketers to restart the importation of refined petroleum products.

National Daily gathered that a communique on the resolutions reached at the meeting would be made public soon, but noted that the marketers also appealed to the Federal Government to grant them tax holidays and other incentives that would help cut their costs when they resumed fuel importation.

It was learnt that four sub-committees were constituted at the meeting, which was chaired by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, at the ministry’s headquarters in Abuja.

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“Four sub-committees were inaugurated by the minister and we agreed on a price that is good for Nigerians, which of course, is the current price. All these and more will be in the communique that will be released soon,” a source who spoke to our correspondent in confidence, said.

Meanwhile, the Senate has denied an alleged claim by the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, that the National Assembly is responsible for the delay in the payment of the debt owed oil marketers by the Federal Government.

The statement read in part, “Senators have been inundated with calls from oil marketers who were present at the meeting with the Chief of Staff to the President on the issue and thus, we call on Mallam Kyari to either prove his claim or retract it.”

He added, “It should be noted that a similar claim was made by the Minister of Finance on the foreign loan at a time the Presidency had not forwarded the request. The letter requesting for the foreign loan was submitted long after she was confronted with the fact.