– Kachikwu says the fall in diesel price is proof that petrol pump price will also fall soon
– The oil minister predicts that the pump prices will start falling from between next 4 to 6 months
– Kachikwu says the government has done huge work to stabilize the price of the commodity in the market
(The Nation) – Nigeria’s Minister of state for petroleum resources Ibe Kachikwu has assured Nigerians that the price of oil will take a nosedive. Kachikwu said the falling price of diesel is enough evidence that petrol prices will also crash soon from its current N145 per litre.
The Nation reports that Kachiwu made the prediction while presenting his scorecard on his two years in office to reporters in Abuja. Kachikwu said: “…Once Nigerians throw their trading skill in it, once competition thrives, the prices will continue to tumble.
“My guess is that you will see the prices tumble in the next four, five to six months. The market will be more stable and definitely the prices will be lower than what we see today.”
Besides, said the minister, in the last 10 years, this is the first time that the three refineries are working simultaneously, although at 50 per cent of their capacity. “We expect to put in investment to put them to 90 per cent capacity,” he said. He added: “It has been one massive problem after the other for the sector to stabilize in term of product supply.
“The time has come to take on the problem bullishly and that is what we are trying to do. “So, we believe the ire will be money for infrastructural development in the downstream sector.
“We believe that a lot of the companies will jump up now and be able to sell at the right prices and not the pump down by the problem of price control and will be able to grow their businesses. “We believe that most of them, efficient ones will drive prices southward rather than northward.
“And we believe that almost 200,000 jobs will be created in this sector and over 400,000 jobs will be saved, which would have been lost if we had continued on the path we were in.”
This report comes just weeks after reports emerged claiming that there were actually plans to increase the pump price rather than reduce it.
Moov Logistics News media gathered from people familiar with the matter who said that the claim that a Senate committee recommended a 5-naira fuel levy on every litre of petroleum or diesel is false.
The sources said that what the Senate committee did was to canvass for the sustainable maintenance of roads from the pricing template of petroleum products. At the public hearing on the National Roads Fund Bill, stakeholders were unanimous on the need to access a percentage of the funds for the sustainable maintenance of roads from the pricing template of petroleum products.
