THE Federal Government of Nigeria, under the leadership of President Tinubu, has distanced itself from the ongoing controversy between the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and Dangote Refinery over petrol pricing.
According to media reports, there are expectations from some quarters that involvement by the Government would lead to a reduced price of the commodity.
However, President Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, while briefing State House correspondents in Abuja, clarified that since the petroleum market has been deregulated, both Dangote and NNPCL, as oil refiners and marketers, are free to set their market prices.
“The PMS price regime has been deregulated. Dangote is a private company. NNPCL, you should not forget, is a limited liability company. Whatever controversy both of them are having is their problem,” Onanuga stated.
Note that the controversy began when NNPCL announced that Dangote Refinery sold petrol to them at N898 per litre. However, Dangote countered that the price was misleading and that his refinery sold petrol to NNPCL at a lower rate than the cost of imported fuel.
Onanuga reiterated that the Government will not interfere in the dispute, allowing both parties to operate according to market forces. “You can see that the private marketers have said that they find the NNPC or Dangote price too much for them, and they may resort to importing fuel. If NNPC fuel is too much, the public market can go to the market and bring in their fuel and sell at the price that they think is very reasonable and profitable for them,” Onanuga noted.
