NEC recommends new pump price for Petrol

The Federal Government may increase the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), better known as petrol, to N302 per litre in February 2022 as part of the recommendation of the National Economic Council (NEC) in November 2021.

It was gathered that this is part of the government’s plan to fully deregulate the PMS prices, eliminating monthly subsidy payments with provisions to ensure fair competition in the market.

Petrol price is currently between N162 and N165 per litre in Nigeria.

The recommendations were put forward by the NEC ad-hoc committee interfacing with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on the appropriate pricing of PMS in Nigeria. The report was presented by Nasir El-Rufai, governor of Kaduna state and head of the committee.

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The committee was established last year by NEC headed by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo to look into the dwindling revenues of states.

Other members of the committee include Godwin Obaseki, Kayode Fayemi, and David Umahi, governors of Edo, Ekiti and Ebonyi states respectively; as well as Godwin Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN); and Mele Kyari, group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC); Zainab Ahmed, minister of finance, budget and national planning.

In May 2021, the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) had also recommended N385 per litre — but stakeholders, including the federal government, rejected the recommendation.