Former presidential spokesperson Dr. Doyin Okupe has admonished the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and oil marketers, urging them not to tarnish President Bola Tinubu’s image with the current state of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) pricing.
In a statement titled Dangote Refinery, NNPCL, Oil Marketers and the Voodoo of PMS Pricing released on Friday, Okupe called on oil stakeholders to recognize the struggles of Nigerians.
He warned that the current pricing trend could be perceived as an attempt to unfairly paint the government, now uninvolved in petroleum pricing, in a negative light.
“The opaqueness and lack of transparency in determining the appropriate price of PMS is a national embarrassment. The insensitivity of these agencies to the suffering of Nigerians is inexplicable. The FOB (Free On Board) price of PMS at Rotterdam (as of Friday) is $0.541 per litre, which is N927.82 at N1,715 to $1,” Okupe said.
He noted that the landing cost of PMS in Lagos stands at N978 per litre and argued that local refineries should sell at a price that reflects the savings from avoiding European freight costs, estimated to be around N85 per litre.
“From every empirical but accurate calculation, no local refinery should sell above the FOB price at Rotterdam less savings from freight charges of N85, which is N842.83,” he said.
As a former Director-General of Peter Obi’s 2023 Presidential Campaign Council, Okupe challenged NNPCL, Dangote Refinery, and oil marketers to dispute his calculations.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that NNPCL recently raised the price of petrol, known as PMS, shortly after a previous price hike.
The pump price in Abuja increased from N1,030 to N1,060 per litre, while in Lagos, the price rose from N998 to N1,025 per litre.
