There seems to be no end in sight over the bickering by Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPC, and Dangote Petrochemical Refinery over the issue of pricing and regulatory issues.
It was expected that with the lifting of premium motor spirit, PMS, on Sunday by the NNPC from the Dangote Refinery in Lagos, the disagreements between both companies will ebb, but that was not to be.
Trouble started when the Chief Communications Officer of the NNPC, Mr. Femi Soneye, was quoted as saying that “We successfully loaded PMS at the Dangote Refinery today. The claim that we purchased it at N760 per liter is incorrect. For this initial loading, the price from the refinery was N898 per liter.”
In a sharp rebuttal, the Dangote Group dismissed Soneye’s claims that the company sold PMS to the NNPC at N898 per litre.
In a press release issued on Sunday evening, the Group’s Chief Branding and Communications Officer, Anthony Chiejina, labelled the claim as “misleading and mischievous,” stating that it seeks to undermine the company’s recent milestones in addressing Nigeria’s long-standing energy crisis.
The clarification comes after widespread reports that NNPC had purchased fuel from Dangote at N898 per litre.
According to Chiejina, the statement is aimed at derailing the progress achieved towards alleviating energy insufficiency and insecurity, which have plagued the country for decades.
The statement read, “Our attention has been drawn to a statement attributed to NNPCL spokesperson, Mr Olufemi Soneye, that we sell our PMS at N898 per litre to the NNPCL.
“This statement is both misleading and mischievous, deliberately aimed at undermining the milestone achievement recorded today, September 15, 2024, towards addressing energy insufficiency and insecurity, which has bedevilled the economy in the past 50 years.
“We urge Nigerians to disregard this malicious statement and await a formal announcement on the pricing, by the Technical Sub-Committee on Naira-based crude sales to local refineries, appointed by His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, which will commence on October 1, 2024, bearing in mind that our current stock of crude was procured in dollars.”
The refinery was, however, silent on their pricing dashing the hopes of a reduction in the pump price of petrol.
