According to Adetokunbo Pearse, a member of the People Democratic Party (PDP), Nigerians have a right to know the precise landing cost of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).
On Monday, Dr. Pearse said on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily that Mele Kyari, the managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), should be thoroughly investigated regarding the variation in landing costs.
“The way you solve a problem is to go to the source. Let the president go and interrogate NNPCL and let us find out – announce to the country what the landing cost is so that we know exactly what we can make, and how much we can sell oil that will not cripple the economy. That’s what we need to do,” he said.
He lamented that going back to the NNPC would affect the landing cost of imported fuel.
“When you go to the NNPCL, you find out that the landing cost is so low, the price that is given. The landing cost at one point was 50 naira per litre, now it’s about 150 per litre.”
According to the Lagos State Coordinator, Atiku/ Okowa Presidential Campaign Support Group, the emergence of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and the repair of the local refineries ought to reduce the landing cost of the product in contrast to the NNPCL boss’ comment.
“One of the reasons I said we need to go to NNPCL is this: Kyari said on this Channels that even when Dangote oil comes fully on board, the price of pump fuel will not reduce – even with the production of oil in Port Harcourt and elsewhere. That man needs to be investigated.
“Of course, if you refine your oil here, the man is already telling us that even when it is refined here, it is still not going to go down and you and I know that if we have our own refineries and we are refining the product here, the price should be more competitive,” he argued.
As of September 2022, the NNPCL in a statement noted that PMS will cost consumers N462 per litre without the Federal Government’s subsidy.
It added that the “rising crude oil prices and PMS supply costs above PPPRA (now NMDPRA) cap had forced oil marketing companies’ (OMCs) withdrawal from PMS import since the fourth quarter of 2017.