As a result of the continuous fall of oil prices, a further reduction in the pump price of petrol by the Federal Government , is imminent.

This disclosure was made on Thursday, by the outgoing Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, Farouk Ahmed.

The federal government, through the PPPRA, had on December 30, 2015 approved new pump prices of petrol starting from January 1 to March 31, 2016 under a revised pricing template.

The government had approved two pump prices – one for the retail outlets of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), which will sell at N86 a litre, and another for retail outlets operated by private business concerns in the downstream petroleum sector, which will dispense at N86.50 a litre.

While handing over to Moses Mbaba, in Abuja, Ahmed revealed that one month after reviewing the pricing template of petrol, the country had saved N2.6bn as over-recovery on the product.

Speaking on the prospective new review, Ahmed said the decision on the review of petrol would be taken next month by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, after extensive consultations with stakeholders.

He also stated that the decision would be largely influence by the price of crude oil in the international market.

“Yes, but wait till March and you will see. Because the minister is fair in the decision he will take, and because he will take the decision pragmatically.”

Ahmed also stated that the country has recorded over-recovery of N13.81 per litre of petrol from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and oil marketers, as at February 16.

“There has been an account launched at the CBN and being managed by the Accountant-General of the Federation where the over-recovery funds are deposited. So, there is no question of where the money goes to.”

“As of February 3, 2016, the estimate in that account, because we are verifying based on what was imported, is just a small amount of about N2.6bn. But this is just the beginning, because some of them were just arriving in December; that is why the subsidy over-recovery is low.”

“The fact is that whatever money that will be put into that account, one day, which is our hope that the price of crude oil will go up, there will be more revenue inflow to the Federation Account. The oil sector will benefit. That excess, before you go to the government for any intervention, you go to that account and pull some money and compensate.”

Mazi Emeka