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A dispute erupted between the Dangote Group and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited over new petrol prices between Thursday and Saturday.
According to a report by the Foundation for Investigative Journalism [FIJ]the seed of misinformation about the new petrol prices came from Dangote.
The report said Dangote had since deleted a post on microblogging platform X in which he claimed that the NNPC had “sole authority” to determine the price of petrol in Nigeria.
here is the link X to the post
Ever since the Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical Company, a subsidiary of Aliko Dangote’s Dangote Group, announced its readiness to start selling its petroleum product in the domestic market, there has been intense public debate over the appropriate price of the refinery’s gasoline per litre.
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On Thursday, the company released a flyer featuring Aliko Dangote and a quote that only the NNPC could decide how much a litre of petrol cost in Nigeria.
“NNPC has the sole authority to determine the price of petrol,” the Dangote Group said in the post.
This statement made headlines. However, it has now been deleted, but not without forcing a rebuttal from the NNPC, which is the regulator of the oil industry.
“WE DON’T SET PRICES”
Hours after Dangote Group’s request, the NNPC told Nigerians that it had no power to determine a price. It said that it was a decision strictly in the invisible hands of market forces as prescribed by law.
Rightly so, Section 205 of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), the founding law of the NNPC, stipulates that gasoline prices would be determined by unrestricted market conditions. It states: “Subject to the provisions of this section, wholesale and retail prices of petroleum products shall be based on unrestricted free market pricing conditions.”
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Olufemi Soneye, NNPC’s corporate communications manager, also said on Thursday that the market has been deregulated.
“The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.) has stated that the illiquidity of the foreign exchange (forex) rate has been a significant factor affecting the fluctuation of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) prices, which are governed by unfettered free market forces, as per the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), 2021.
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“The market has been deregulated, which means that petrol prices are now determined by market forces rather than by the government or NNPC Ltd. Furthermore, the exchange rate plays a significant role in influencing these prices.”
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In most parts of Nigeria, petrol prices range between N900 and N1,200 per litre.
As the government claims to have completely withdrawn subsidy payments, some have argued that prices would remain unstable and that gasoline could be sold at higher prices than at present. [FIJ report with some edits]
The post “Gasoline Price Misinformation Came From Dangote Group. He Deleted The Claim” – Says Report appeared first on TheConclaveNg.
