Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) on Thursday at its virtual meeting considered the report of a committee headed by Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, and accepted its recommendation that backs full deregulation of petrol, and suggests that the pump price of the product should hover around N385 per litre.
The NGF consideration comes ahead of today’s Federation Accounts Allocations Committee (FAAC) meeting.
The committee also recommended that the federal government should buy 113 buses to cushion the effects of the price increase, a reliable source at the meeting told THISDAY.
El-Rufai’s six-man committee was set up early this year by the National Economic Council (NEC) headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to look into the dwindling revenues of states and make recommendations to the council.
Apart from El-Rufai, Governors Godwin Obaseki of Edo State, Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State; and David Umahi of Ebonyi State are also members of the committee.
The other members of the committee are the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, and the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mallam Mele Kyari.
The four governors, who are members of the committee, presented its report to their colleagues, who endorsed it but the report is subject to final approval by NEC, which will also meet today.
However, in a communique released after the meeting last night, the governors disclosed that El-Rufai gave a briefing on the appropriate pricing of petrol in Nigeria, where he called for full deregulation.
According to the communique, the Kaduna State governor further revealed that between N70 billion and N210 Billion is spent monthly to subsidise the petrol price at N162 per litre.
The committee identified Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, Rivers and Abuja as the top consumers of petrol.
Presenting the report to his colleagues, El-Rufai reportedly said the increase in the price of petrol to N385 per litre would help stem the increasing smuggling of the product to neighbouring countries.
According to him, if petrol sells at N385 per litre, FAAC would gain between N1.3 trillion and N2. 2.3 trillion per annum.
The committee also recommended that the federal government should sell the three refineries after rehabilitation.
