PENGASSAN Foresees Rise Of PMS To N360-N400 Per Litre When Subsidy Is Removed

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has pegged the pump price of premium motor spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, be sold for between N360 and N400 a litre once subsidy removal is complete.

This was revealed by PENGASSAN President, Festus Osifo, while addressing newsmen during the association’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting, in Abuja on Tuesday.

Recalls that the federal government had budgeted N3.35 trillion on petrol subsidy for 2023 even as the it intensifies moves to end the program in June.

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Osifo noted that once subsidy is removed the price of the product, will be determined by the official foreign exchange rate, sourced by Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited for petrol importation.

“Today, the sole importer of PMS into Nigeria is the NNPC. The NNPC is using an exchange rate of the CBN which gives about N400 to N450 depending on the day and depending on the window that you are looking at. So, if you compute that into the model today, PMS should be selling for a region of about N360 to N400 [a litre],” Osifo said.

According to the PENGASSAN president, the association has instructed its member organizations across the country to make the product available to Nigerians.

Osifo explained that members will have their licenses revoked if found guilty of hoarding petrol.

“While maintaining our support for the full deregulation of the sector and the significant milestone achieved in this regard, we counsel that efforts be made to increase the pace of the current rehabilitation exercise of refineries and get them back on track in due time,” he said.

He added that functional local refineries will lower the price of petrol and create jobs for citizens as well.