NNPC increases petrol price to N855 per litre

… FG denies approving adjustment

By Abubkar Yunusa

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has increased the price of premium motor spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, across its retail outlets.
On Tuesday, Peoples Daily gathered that the price of the product was increased to N855 per litre — from about N600 — at an NNPC filling station in wuse zone 4
The upward adjustment comes amid a petrol scarcity which has strained business activities nationwide.
In a statement on September 1, national oil firm linked the shortages to its inability to sustain petrol supply due to a $6 billion debt it owes suppliers.
Peoples daily also observed that the price of AA Rano filling station in Nyanaya check poin, Abuja, was increased to N900 per per litre.
Media reports on Tuesday attributed the price adjustment to a directive of the federal government asking the NNPC to sell at N1,000.
Heineken Lokpobiri, minister for petroleum resources (oil), said the ministry never gave the national oil company such a directive.
Lokpobiri, in a statement signed by Nnemaka Okafor, his media aide, said reports of price directive were “ill-conceived to sow discord and confusion in the oil industry”.
“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,” the statement reads.
“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.