Nigerians to pay #97 as new fuel price

The Federal Government is looking to make Nigerians pay #97 as the new fuel pump price.

To make this work, the Government is looking to employ an alternative to Premium Motor Spirit by introducing Compressed Natural Gas to aid transportation.

According to the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, payment of subsidy on petrol was taking a huge toll on the finances of the country and CNG is the only viable move.

Sylva's words: “If you ask me if we are thinking of reducing the pump price of fuel, I could easily say yes; and I am sure all of you would wonder why I said that. Why I could say yes, is that we are thinking of giving the masses an alternative. Today, we are all hooked on PMS, what we want to do going forward, is to see that we are able to move the masses to CNG. This is what I call the GSM treatment.

Under the new CNG regime, the price is between N95 and N97 per litre equivalent which is a fair price compared to subsidized PMS which goes for N145 per litre.

He hinted that plans were in place to transition Nigerian smoothly to the new regime. He also noted that a test phase of the project had been performed in Benin City and it was successful.

“Already, there is a pilot programme in Benin City, which has worked for a long time. About 4,000 vehicles are already on CNG in Benin. We want to expand that CNG programme across the country and we believe it is going to create a lot of opportunities for Nigerians and also give Nigerians a new lease of life because the commodity would be accessible,” the Minister added.