Abdulkadir, however, said the agency would constantly, on a monthly basis, develop a guiding price for the commodity, with which it would advise marketers.
He noted that the deregulation of the downstream sector was dependent on the enforcement of appropriate laws by strong regulatory agencies, hence its continued intervention.
“For the purpose of emphasis, let me reiterate that different sectors of the polity operate under the guidance of national regulators.
“The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) regulates the banks and the financial sector; Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) regulates telecommunications; National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) regulates the insurance sector and the same exists for operators in Nigeria’s downstream petroleum sector.
“To this end, it is not out of place for the Agency to provide a guiding price band with the aim to protect consumers against price gouging.
“It is important to also state that there is nowhere in the world that deregulation means total lack of control, supervision or oversight.
“While the Market-Based Pricing Regime is a policy introduced to free the market of all encumbrances to investment and growth, it should not be misconstrued to mean a total abdication of government’s responsibility to the sector and citizenry,” he said.
Abdulkadir said that the PPPRA no longer fix prices, but rather provide a guiding price band by monitoring petroleum products prices daily.
This, he said was being done using the average price of the previous month to determine prices for the following month, for appropriate cost-reflective pricing that ensures reasonable returns to Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs).
