The House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on the Review of Pump Price of Petrol, has accused the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) of making Nigerians incur unnecessary costs through its pricing template, and insisted that the pump price of petrol should not be more than N70 per litre.
The committee, at a public hearing monday, said the 84k port charge and the 30k administration charge were fraudulent, particularly as the 84k was for services never provided by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and the 30k was provided for in the budget of the PPPRA.
The committee members noted that the administrative charge was increased by 100 percent to 30k from 15k after the removal of subsidy in 2016.
In attendance at the hearing were officials of the PPPRA, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the NPA, Major Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) and labour unions in the petroleum sector.
The Executive Secretary of the PPPRA, Mr. Victor Shidok, said the administrative charge was used to pay for the services of certified cargo inspectors, who are engaged by the agency.
The Executive Secretary of the PPPRA, Mr. Victor Shidok, said the administrative charge was used to pay for the services of certified cargo inspectors, who are engaged by the agency.
His claim was however countered by the Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Raphael Nnanna Igbokwe, who disclosed that N1.3 billion was budgeted and approved for the PPPRA as cost of hiring six cargo inspectors.
Shidok, however said the budgetary allocation was inadequate for payment of the inspectors, and to take care of other overhead charges.
Shidok, however said the budgetary allocation was inadequate for payment of the inspectors, and to take care of other overhead charges.
“The admin charge is to cover their expenses and our staff, whom we send to depots across the country…I still maintain that the 30k charge is to cover our overheads. The N1.3 billion was insufficient to pay the cargo inspectors and also take care of our staff. The admin charge is to augment the budgetary allocation to take care of our overhead operations,” he said.
The committee directed him to provide documents on the total monies collected as admin charge from 2012 – 2016, and since subsidy was removed in 2016, in addition to expenditure of the monies.
Also responding to queries on why locally refined petrol pump price is not cheaper than the imported one since the charges apply to imports, Shidok said the PPPRA set two separate templates with a price range of N140-N145 per litre.
He noted that the NNPC is actually expected to sell below N145 per litre.
Igbokwe however insisted that if the unnecessary costs were removed, Nigerians would not have to pay more than N70 per litre.
Igbokwe however insisted that if the unnecessary costs were removed, Nigerians would not have to pay more than N70 per litre.
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