The Federal Government has denounced wave making claims that the Ministry of Petroleum Resources is behind the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited’s fuel sale at N1,000 which is evidently above the above the approved pump price.
The report going round is that the Minister for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, had authorised the NNPCL to sale at that price.
The Special Adviser, Media and Communication, to Lokpobiri, Nnemaka Okafor, on Tuesday released a statement has been made available to newsmen from the PUNCH, stating that the FG had declared the report a forged and ill-conceived statement which is aimed to bring discord and confusion in the oil industry.
The statement made emphasis on the fact that the the FG had never meddled in the affairs of petroleum pricing with NNPCL, not to even mention giving directives for petrol price increment.
The statement read, “The Federal Government is compelled to address the outright falsehoods currently being circulated on social media, which claim that the Minister of Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, has directed the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited to inflate petroleum prices above the approved pump price.
“We categorically condemn these claims as baseless, malicious, and a deliberate attempt to incite public discontent. We challenge anyone in possession of any evidence-be it written documents, audio, or video recordings-that supports these fabrications to make it public.
“Such a claim is entirely devoid of truth and should be recognised as an intentional effort to mislead the public. It must be stressed that NNPCL operates as an independent entity under the Companies and Allied Matters Act, with a fully empowered Board of Directors.
“The Ministry of Petroleum Resources does not, and will not, interfere in the internal decisions of NNPCL, including pricing matters. Any suggestion otherwise is not only incorrect but also reveals a profound misunderstanding of the deregulated nature of Nigeria’s petroleum sector.”
