The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.) has largely kept mum over the recent unilateral increase of petrol pump price by independent petroleum marketers nationwide.
Investigations reveal that petroleum products retail outlets dispensing petrol across the country have adjusted their pump prices, following an unsigned document, veily attributed to the transiting NNPC, which has gone viral on the social media stating a hike in the price of petrol.
The document bears no official signatory. According to the circulating document, the price of petrol in the Southwest has been adjusted from N165 per litre to N179, in the Northwest from N165 per litre to N184, and in the Northeast from N165 per litre to N189.
Also, the price, according to the circulating document, in the South-South has been adjusted from N165 per litre to N179, in the North-Central from N165 per litre to N179, and in the SouthEast from N165 per litre to N174.
The price of the product in Lagos and Abuja was stated in the document as having been increased from N165 per litre to N169 and N174 respectively.
It was also stated that the ex-depot price of the product in the Lagos axis had been adjusted upward from N148.17 to a range of N160 and 162.
Efforts to get the spokesman of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.), Mr. Garba Deen Muhammed, to clear the air proved abortive.
Top managers of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, (NMDPRA) said they are still examining the situation. They also have issued a statement on the matter or made a pronouncement.
Making a case for themselves, the independent oil marketers had cited cost of logistics and general operational costs.
Faulting the document making waves in the social media, the spokesman of Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Chinedu Ukadike, insisting it did not have the characteristics of NNPC Ltd.
Ukadike said the company would usually send radio messages to their depots and private depots informing marketers of changes in buying and selling prices.
He pointed out that contrary to the circulating price template, NNPC operates an equalisation system that aims at ensuring price uniformity across the country. “NNPC’s method of sending messages is not that way. They usually send their radio messages to their depots and PDOs informing marketers of changes in buying prices and selling prices.
“I have not also seen where the NPC differentiates price from the fuel bought in Warri Depot to the one bought in Lagos. I also know that the regime of NNPC is based on equalisation, which is to put petrol at the same price everywhere. Maybe they are trying to test the grounds.”
The immediate past president of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, (MOMAN), Adetunji Oyebanji, also told newsmen that the message did not have the characteristics of an official statement from the government.
“The media went to town with a statement like this not signed by the government. What I know is that as I always tell you, marketers are in the business to make profit and the N165 per litre price was no longer feasible,” Oyebanji said.
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