Nigerians living far from petroleum depots or in mountainous and riverine communities may be burdened with high price of petroleum products, especially Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) otherwise called petrol if President Muhammadu Buhari signs into law the current version of the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB).
Already, the Senate has expunged the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF) from Part IV of the piece of legislation. The implication being that consumers would have to pay for the price parity, which had been addressed by the fund since 1975.
Indeed, key programmes being planned by the agency are current stalled due to uncertainties on the continuity of the agency.
PEF came into existence to primarily address challenges of price differentials through the Uniform Pricing Mechanism (UPM) by ensuring the equaliation of transportation deficits of petroleum products. Read more