The federal government on Thursday said it had reviewed the freight rate paid to petroleum products transporters under the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), upwards.
The new rate was however not disclosed.
In March, the authorities had hiked the rate from N9.5 per litre to N11.87/litre, but sources said in the new development, an increase of N10 per kilometre across board for the transporters was agreed upon.
The development is coming after transporters complained about the rising cost of operations nationwide, threatening earlier in the year to down tools if the issues were not resolved.
The Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) provides for a free, market-driven arrangement in the sector, but the industry is still highly regulated by the government, with prices of petrol, especially, still determined by the government.
A statement by the Nigerian Midstream Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), noted that the new deal was a result of several consultations with industry stakeholders.
It noted that President Muhammadu Buhari considered and approved the upward review in freight rate for transporters to alleviate the challenges associated with the distribution of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) or petrol.
“The review was necessitated by the upswing in the global price of petroleum products especially Automotive Gas Oil (diesel) and its implications on the cost of transporting PMS nationwide.
“Consequently, the Authority wishes to advise as follows that: In with the mandate of the Authority as prescribed in the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) (Section 31(j) 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 1 June 2022 while still maintaining the current regulated PMS pump price of N165.00/litre,” it said.
The NMDPRA explained that an inter-agency team was being constituted to ensure reconciliation and payment of outstanding transporters claims in line with established payment procedure under the Bridging Fund Scheme (BFS).
It expressed the belief that the increase in transporters freight rate will further encourage NARTO and other stakeholders to deploy more trucks to transport petrol nationwide to ensure adequate supply of the product.
“The Authority assures the public of its commitment to building a strong and sustainable midstream and downstream petroleum sector,” it stressed.
In a related development, it said that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) the sole supplier of petrol, has maintained over 32 days sufficiency in-country and asked consumers not to fret about rumours of scarcity.
