*Says prices will normalize within two weeks
The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari, has said that the sudden hike in pump price of petrol in filling stations across the country is a reflection of the realities of the market.
Despite having supplies, the filling station still went ahead to hike the price of their products.
Speaking on a television program monitored by NIGERIAN ANCHOR on Thursday, Kyari said that the situation applies to all commodities and that it portrays the reality of the market.
“It could have been the other way round; prices could have collapsed downwards and those holding the old stock would have to sell at lower prices to arrive at market condition.
“It is not something serious or strange, this is a stock management issue and it is very typical, no one can do anything different about this.
“The prices we are seeing today at our stations are the current price of the commodity. This means that prices in the market can go down at any time and of course, the market will adjust itself,” Kyari said.
The GCEO however assured that the fuel hike currently being experienced will normalize in the next 2-3 weeks because competition among major players in the oil sector would force down the price of petrol.
He added that the subsidy removal would allow new entrants into the market, a move he said, would aid competition and phase out monopoly.
“The beauty of this (subsidy removal) is that there will be new entrants (into the market) because oil marketing companies’ reluctance to come into the market all along is the very fact of the subsidy regime that is in place.
“And that subsidy regime doesn’t have a guarantee of repayment back to the those who provide the product at subsidise price and now that the market is being regulated, oil marketing companies can actually import product or even if it is produced locally, they can buy and take it into the market and sell it at its retail price.
“Therefore, you will see competition, even with NNPC. And by the way, by law, NNPC cannot do more than 30 percent of the market going forward. As soon as the market stabilises, oil marketing companies will be able to come in,” he explained.
