The Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria, PETROAN and the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, have urged the Federal Government to clamp down on anti-competitive petrol pricing to reduce fuel prices nationwide.
The National President of PETROAN, Billy Gillis-Harry, made this disclosure in an interview with DAILY POST on Tuesday.
Recall that in the past two weeks, fuel prices rose to between N1,310 and N1,345 per litre from N1,210 and N1,275 per litre, as Brent crude hit $95 per barrel on Wednesday.
Reacting, Gillis-Harry said that, as a solution to the fuel price hike, Nigeria’s regulators, including the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, FCCPC and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA, must work to clamp down on anti-competitive petrol pricing.
“Well, the Federal Government’s solution is, at all times, even though the sector is deregulated, there should be a consistent review of fair market pricing, competitive pricing, market-driven prices, everything, the inputs of production and then the outputs, which is what we buy and then sell.
“So, the government should place their attention on what the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority is doing their best. The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission should rise to the occasion and ensure that every part of the business, because we are in a business that impacts on everything in our life, just like transportation.
“So, the other thing also, we also need to appeal to the government to ensure that transporters are also following through with the dynamics of how the prices fluctuate. When prices come down, their prices should come down. They shouldn’t keep one price perpetually.
“When the price was high, they don’t ever bring it down. So, I think what the government needs to do is keep a persistent and constant check on what the activities of the refiner, of the depot, of the logistics, of the middlemen are. That’s what’s needed,” he told DAILY POST.
NMDPRA, FCCPC should clamp down on anti-competitive fuel pricing in Nigeria – PETROAN