NPA is only a referee between the consumer and government
NPA is just an implementer of the government’s final decision
Transport operators want levies on fuel scrapped
Communications Manager of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Mohammed Abdul-Kudus, has stated that the regulatory body does not have the mandate to review levies on petroleum products.
He mentioned that, when it comes to the issuance and scrapping of fuel levies in the country, the NPA has no hand in tampering with the number of levies charged on a litre of fuel.
According to him, the authority simply acts as a referee between the government and the consumer and thus has no power of determination over the levies charged by the government.
Mr. Abdul-Kudus, however, said the NPA only tries as much as possible to offer advice to the government when the issue of any review comes up.
It also advises the government on ways to ensure that increments do not affect consumers negatively.
Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express on Wednesday, he stated that “they (fuel price levies) are engineered by government and you have Parliament as the vehicle for this position. And so, some of them like the Special Petroleum Tax if there’s going to be review, if there’s going to be a scrapping, there’s going to be anything done about it, then certainly Parliament will be called to work on that.
“We only come in when the decision is taken, and we’re supposed to review the pricing formula. That is when we come in. But we don’t actually make a determination on its review. We could have discussions with government, advise on probably the effecting degree or percentage of what should be more appropriate that will probably cushion the consumer”.
He added the body only comes in as a final implementor of the government’s final decision.
“We are the final implementers of the final decision that has been taken or might be taken and as and when that will be taken, and we’re supposed to do something about some of the levies or taxes, if we’re arguably called upon, we’d do what is expected of us.”