The Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mele Kyari, said this while speaking to newsmen at the State House, Abuja, on Thursday, March 25.
He explained that while the actual cost of importation and handling charges of petrol amounts to N234 per litre, the government is selling at N162 per litre.
According to him, the NNPC can no longer afford to bear the differential in cost, adding that sooner or later, Nigerians would have to pay the actual cost for the commodity.
Kyari said the NNPC pays between N100 to N120 billion a month to keep the pump price at the current level, stressing that market forces must be allowed to determine the pump price of petrol in the country.