(Ecofin Agency) - The Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), Farouk Ahmed, has disclosed the reason behind the sharing of 78 % of the 3.1 million metric tonnes of petrol import allocation for Q1 to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

According to him, the allocation was due to the failure of some oil marketers to meet preceding import allocation quotas due to the difficulties in gaining access to foreign exchange.

Ahmed added that agency was confident that NNPC can source for foreign exchange via crude oil sales for financing of its importation, “If we go back to recent historic trends, especially in the last six months, you will discover that most marketers have had difficulties in raising Letters of Credit due to lack of forex”, he said.

He, however, debunked all indications that the allocation was done to gradually remove private marketers from the business and create NNPC’s monopoly, Punch News reports.

Anita Fatunji