President Muhammadu Buhari

The Nigerian Government finally deregulated the downstream sector of the oil industry on Thursday evening with the approval of removal  cap in the price of petrol by President Muhammadu Buhari.

In a statement released late evening entitled  entitled, ‘’Market Based Pricing Regime for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) Regulations, 2020’’ the Federal Government said it will no longer fix or put a cap on the price of petrol.

In the statement signed by Mr Abdulkadir Saidu, Executive Secretary,Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, the government agency responsible for the price of petroleum products said “henceforth, the price of PMS would be determined by market forces.”

According to the agency, the regulations seek to complement and enforce the provisions of the PPPRA (Establishment) Act, 2003, and to notify the general public of the existence of a market-based pricing regime for PMS with effect from March 2020.

The agency said it has the approval of the President Buhari to completely deregulate the downstream sector of the petroleum industry.

But PPRA said it would continue to monitor trends in the crude oil market and advise the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and oil marketers on monthly guiding price for the commodity.

It said, “From the commencement of these regulations, a market-based pricing regime for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) shall take effect.

“The agency shall monitor market trends and advise the NNPC and oil marketing companies on the monthly guiding Market-Based Price.

“The price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) advised by the agency shall be guiding retail price at which the product shall be sold across the country.

“The regulations may be cited as the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) Market Based Pricing Regime Regulations, 2020, made this 20th day of March, 2020,” it said.