Days after transporters cried out over rising cost of operation, the Federal Government yesterday raised the freight rate for petroleum products across the country.
The government had in March this year hiked the rate by 25 percent from N9.5 per litre to N11.87/litre.
The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA, in a statement in Abuja said the rate took effect June 1, 2022.
The statement read: “Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari has considered and approved the upward review in freight rate for transporters to alleviate the challenges associated with the distribution of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) nationwide.
“The approval was after due consultations with industry-wide stakeholders at the instance of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (the Authority).
“The review was necessitated by the upswing in the global price of petroleum products especially Automotive Gasoil (Diesel) and its implication on the cost of transporting Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) nationwide.
“In line with the mandate of the Authority as prescribed in the PIA (Section 31(i)) to develop and enforce a framework on tariffing and pricing for natural gas and petroleum products, the transporters freight rate has been reviewed to reflect current market realities.
“The revised freight rate takes effect from 1st June 2022 while still maintaining the current regulated PMS pump price of N165.00/Litre.
“An Inter-agency Team is being constituted to ensure reconciliation and payment of outstanding transporters claims in line with established payment procedure under the Bridging Fund Scheme”.
The agency also disclosed that “NNPC, the sole supplier of PMS, has maintained over 32 days sufficiency in-country.
“We believe the increase in transporters freight rate will further encourage Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) and other stakeholders to deploy more trucks to transport PMS nationwide to ensure adequate supply of the product”.
