Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Monday said the NNPC and not the Federal Government pays for the fuel subsidy that has emerged with the N171 landing cost as against the official retail price of N145.
Osinbajo spoke with journalists after visiting Oando and Total fuel depots in Apapa area, a day after he also visited stations in the Lekki-Ajah axis of the city.
He said since the NNPC buys the fuel, it bears the cost.
“NNPC is trading in fuel; the Federal Government is not, at the moment, paying for any subsidy. NNPC is trading. If you are buying and selling fuel, you would have to be able to pay for it. So, it’s not a question of government provision for subsidy, the Federal Government, at the moment, isn’t paying any subsidy. And don’t forget that the way that the NNPC trades is that, in many cases, NNPC is actually giving fuel; there is 445, 000 barrels of fuel. So really what you are seeing, in many cases, is more or less an exchange for PMS. So at the moment NNPC is paying the cost”.
He reiterated that the Buhari administration was working round the clock to end the fuel crisis as soon as possible.
The Vice President further said that one of the most important objectives of the Buhari administration is to ensure that the average Nigerian citizen is not again put through the pain of an increase in fuel price.
The Vice President, alongside the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, also held a closed-door meeting with oil marketers in Lagos in a bid to resolve the issues involved with supply of fuel nationwide and clear up the queues at filling stations.
“We have been here holding a meeting with major oil marketers and as you see everyone is at work trying to ensure that the petrol queues are cleared. We are trying to look at some of the issues and what needs to be done to ensure that things move very quickly,” the Vice President said.
“Just yesterday, Mr President tried to see how exactly he could really work on the problems that we are experiencing and how to very quickly clear up the queues and ensure that everyone is able to have a happy holiday; that’s exactly why we are here today.
“The GMD of the NNPC is up in Abuja and I’m here with the Honourable Minister (of State for Petroleum Resources), trying to take a look at what the problems of the marketers may be and also what other issues there may be getting the products to petrol stations across the country.”
“We had a very good meeting and we hope that in the next couple of days we will be able to resolve the petrol queues and l hope this rather sad episode come to an end as quickly as possible.”