The Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe
Kachikwu, said the Federal Government would focus
on price modulation of petroleum products to ensure efficiency and provision of the products.

Kachikwu said this while addressing newsmen on
Thursday in Abuja.

He said the price modulation had nothing to do with
the removal or existence of subsidy.

Kachikwu said, “There is too much emotion around
subsidy issue, but our focus is that the Federal
Government should not spend as much as it spends
every year on subsidy.

“First, it is an issue of irresponsibility, this year we
have spent about one trillion and given the state of
the finances, we have to save money from every
means.

“What I am trying to do is to make sure that whatever we do, the poor people will not be affected. So whatever we are going to do will be intellectual.”

On the way forward, the minister said that the NNPC
would review the template of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency and achieve reduction in the cost for clearing goods.

According to him, foreign exchange provisions will
be looked into, to ensure stability in the system.

He added that efforts were being made to ensure
more allocation to the oil industry to ensure certainty in the system.

He said that Nigeria consumed below 40 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit per day, adding that a
reduction in smuggled products would put the level
of consumption between 35 and 36 million per day.

The minister said, “If we take this analysis, we can
deliver products today with the price of oil where it is and also sell close to the prices we have today.

“It is not that we have removed subsidy but the
application of market forces will enable you to sell
products as close to the prices we have today.

“Is it going to be between N87 and N90; we will have
to get PPPRA to do those templates and at 35 million
(litres) we may sell products at N87; by the time we
consume 36, we may be selling at N90 or N91.”

He said a band had been approved between N87 and N97 to look at price modulation, adding that it would look at price at every given time of crude.

The minister said that the price would no longer be
fixed, noting that the price of crude would continue
to determine what the price of product would be.
Kachikwu said that the report that pump price would
go back to N97 in 2016 was not true, adding that a
band of N87 and N97might be adopted.