Mele Kyari, the Group Chief Executive Officer at NNPC Limited has stated that petrol in Nigeria will be priced at N410 if subsidy are removed.

Kyari, speaking at the Legislative Transparency and Accountability Summit in Abuja on Wednesday November 9, noted that nowhere today that you can land a litre of PMS to the pumps at the N445 exchange rate.

He stated;

“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, 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. 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 exchange rate, it is not possible.

“In some places, you are subsidizing up to N290 on every litre. With this regime, it is impossible for you to avoid all the wrong things that are happening. Round tripping, cross-border smuggling, document forgery-anywhere you have arbitrage, you will have these issues.”

Kyari also justified the engagement of private security contractors to secure its facilities in order to fight against oil theft in the country, adding that it has paid off.