The price of petrol may increase from its current price of N145 per litre to 150 per litre if the current National Roads Fund bill before the House of Representatives is passed into law.
The technical committee set up by the House committee on Works has recommended an additional N5 on petroleum price.
The National Road Fund, when established, is to serve as a source of revenues from road user-related charges and other sources for financing to be managed and administered for routine and periodic maintenance works on Nigerian roads.
The additional N5 on petroleum price is part of recommendations of a technical committee set up by the House committee on works, chaired by Rep Toby Okechukwu.
The technical committee, which was given the task in November, 2016, of drawing a report to be reviewed and considered by the House has recommended the fuel levy of N5 chargeable per litre of petroleum products.
According to its reports: “Fuel levy of N5 chargeable per litre on any volume of petrol and diesel products imported into Nigeria and on locally refined petroleum products.”
The committee also recommended other sources of funding to include; toll fees not exceeding 10 percent of any revenue paid as user charge per vehicle on any federal road designated as a toll road; international vehicle transit charges; inter-state mass transit user charge of 0.5 percent deductible from the fare paid by passengers as well as surcharge of 0.5 percent chargeable on the assessed value of any imported vehicle into the country.
In addition to the above source of funding, the committee further recommended that sourcing funds from license or other fees which should be 10 percent of the revenue accruing from such or other fees pertaining to non-vehicular road usages along any federal road; grants and loans and gifts of land, money or other property.
It said the fund is to be managed by a governing board with a managing director as the head of the fund.
But the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) opposed the recommendation on the N5 fuel levy.
Meanwhile, the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association (PENGASSAN) both under the umbrella of NUPENGASSAN have warned against any proposed hike in the price of petroleum products.
According to the two bodies, Nigerians are not smiling because of the harsh economic condition brought by recession.
There had been speculations that the price of petroleum products may be hiked. The speculations were further fueled by the reported increase in the price of petrol in Kano state on Monday, January 24, 2017.
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