N150 Per Litre, NNPC Denies Reports Of Fuel Price Hike

Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has dispel report for the second time within two weeks, that it is planning to increase the price of premium motor spirit (PMS) otherwise known as petrol.

The Corporation said it is not empowered statutorily to tinker with the pricing template of petroleum products, adding that the national dailies that made the claims in their reports did so erroneously.

Also, the Corporation has assured Nigerians of
availability of the product as it confirmed the availability of over 1.6 billion litres of PMS in the country that would last 45 days demand.

It also stated that there was no time its management met the President to push for a hike in the pump price of petrol to N150 per litre as it was alleged.

Defending the price adjustment by its downstream facilities, the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division NNPC, Garba-Deen Muhammad, said the price adjustment in its downstream facilities from N141 to N145 per litre is still within the price band of N135 and N145 per litre that was approved on May 11, 2016 by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), the statutory body in charge of petroleum
products pricing.

The Corporation assured marketers and motorists of its readiness to continue to play its statutory role of being the supplier of last resort and ensuring energy security for the nation.

Some national dailies had yesterday reported that the Federal Government had concluded plans to review the current pricing template for PMS to forestall a further increase in the price of the commodity.

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu was said to have made the disclosure during a grand award ceremony organised by the PPPRA’s branch of the Petroleum an Natural Gas Senior Staff
Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN in Abuja.
It will be recalled that on October 24, the Corporation had dismissed a similar story credited to one of its executive directors claiming that the said official was misquoted.