The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), the government agency that regulates petroleum products prices in the country, said in Abuja on Tuesday, that the sector is now fully deregulated as it no longer fixes fuel prices.
This comes barely 24 hours after depot owners called for full deregulation of the downstream sector of the petroleum industry.
On Monday, depot owners under the platform of the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN) urged the government to introduce full deregulation policy without delay to enhance the growth of the petroleum industry and ensure the development of the countrys economy.
The Chairman of DAPPMAN, Winifred Akpani, who is also the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Northwest Petroleum and Gas Company Limited, said a full deregulation of downstream sector operations would ensure seamless business and enhance transparency, competitiveness and sustainable growth.
Reacting to the call, PPPRA said since the introduction of the deregulation policy in March, it has ceased to play any role in determining fuel prices.
The agencys Executive Secretary, Abdulkadir Saidu, said under the new arrangement, marketers are now solely responsible for determining retail fuel prices in the country based on market fundamentals.
In April, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, had said the deregulation policy, a fuel price modulation mechanism would be established to determine prices.
The minister said the government would no longer be directly involved in fixing fuel prices, but the private sector would be allowed to take over the process through the marketers.
The arrangement, he said, would allow the government to focus on its traditional role of monitoring and enforcing compliance with regulations to avoid profiteering by the marketers.