Lawmakers say Nigerians should be paying less than N145 for petrol

Members of the House of Representatives have said that Nigerians should not be paying N145 per litre of fuel.

The Reps also accused the Petroleum Products Price Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) of setting a fraudulent pricing template for petrol.

The observations were made on Monday, July 23, during a public hearing by the ad hoc committee on the review of the petrol price which said the 145 per litre price was causing great pain and suffering to Nigerians.

“In the 2017 budget, which is before us, PPPRA has a proposal of another N500m for regulation, monitoring and supply of petrol,” Committee Chairman, Nnanna Igbokwe said.

“These budgetary provisions have already taken care of the purpose for which you charge 30k on the template, yet Nigerians continue to bear the burden by paying N145 per litre.

“This has left Nigerians in a situation whereby they still pay for lightening services for smaller vessels that go to Cotonou or Lome to offload products from mother vessels. PPPRA will then add the cost to the pump price and ask Nigerians to pay.

“Can Nigerians be paying the cost of capital by importers and dealers? Can Nigerians be paying for lathering services when there are agencies whose duties are to dredge our sea? How effective and transparent is the bridging claims?" he added.

The Reps had said, in November 2016, that Nigerians should not be paying more than N70.04 per litre of petrol.