The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has revealed that premium motor spirit (petrol) cannot sell lower than N510 per litre as the President Muhammadu Buhari regime gears towards the phase-out of the fuel subsidy era.

Mele Kyari, the group’s managing director, said that the NNPC could no longer keep up with the N170 per litre pump price of fuel while addressing at the Legislative Transparency and Accountability Summit organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Anti-Corruption in Abuja on Wednesday.

Mr Kyari stated that it was hard to maintain the N170 per litre pump price of fuel because PMS now costs three times the value of the N170 it is currently selling for, which is N510.

“It is not possible for you to buy fuel at N170 when your actual cost is thrice that value.For instance, today, when PMS comes into this country, we transfer to marketers at N113 per litre for us to ensure N165 at the pump,” Mr Kyari said.

“Everyone knows the price of PMS around the world. There is nowhere today that you can land a litre of PMS to the pumps at the N445 (to a dollar) exchange rate. It is not possible,” he added.

“So, you must sell at N113 to them to be able to deliver at N165, that means whatever the cost, anything after that value; that is subsidy. Somebody has to pay for it.”

His remarks come as the Buhari administration prepares to stop the fuel subsidy programme altogether, in order to alleviate the nation’s current economic problems.

The Nigerian Labour Congress opposed subsidy removal this year, calling it premature, so the Buhari administration pushed the phase-out until next year, when it will exit office, leaving the backlash for the incoming government to deal with.

The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, however, have encouraged the Nigerian government to repurpose the considerable sum spent on subsidies to address other economic issues that will improve the lives of the majority of Nigerians.