The Federal Government has denied a report suggesting that the Ministry of Petroleum Resources asked the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, to sell fuel at N1,000 above the approved pump price.
The report claimed that the Minister for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri gave the NNPCL the directive.
Dismissing the report in a statement Tuesday, the Special Adviser, Media and Communication to Lokpobiri, Nnemaka Okafor declared that the report was concocted and ill-conceived to sow discord and confusion in the oil industry.
Okafor stressed that there was never a time the government interfered with petroleum pricing by the NNPCL, let alone give directives for 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.
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“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.”
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