Nigeria government through the Nigerian Midstream Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority on Monday held a meeting with with oil marketers, including representatives from NNPC Limited, Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), and Depots and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN) over lingering foreign exchange issues.
GCEO of NNPC Limited Mele Kyari had last week said that the NNPCL has once again become the sole importer of petrol since private companies cannot access foreign currency due to shortage issues.
He said: “We are the only company importing petrol into the country. None of them can do it today. For them, access to foreign exchange is difficult. We create foreign exchange (FX), therefore we have access to FX, while their access to FX is limited.”
Oil and gas analyst, Kayode Oluwadare said that the revelation by Kyari is unofficial confirmation that petrol subsidy is back in Nigeria.
According to Oluwadare, one of the things deregulation (petrol subsidy removal) was supposed to do was to allow independent marketers to import petrol on their own terms.
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However, now that the NNPCL has restored the status quo as the sole importer, it shows that the country is back to the petrol subsidy regime.
Oluwadare says that this move was necessary because of the constant pressure the government has been under since the official removal of petrol subsidies.
