The Federal Government has distanced itself from the ongoing controversy between the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and Dangote Refinery over petrol pricing.
POLITICS NIGERIA understands that there are expectations from some quarters that involvement by the government would lead to a reduced price of the commodity.
President Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, made the fresh declaration while briefing State House correspondents in Abuja.
Onanuga 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,” Onanuga stated. “Whatever controversy both of them are having is their own problem.”
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.
Aliko Dangote, CEO of Dangote Refinery eventually added recently that the removal of subsidy is totally dependent on the government, not on his company.
The lowest pump price of petrol currently stands at N895 per litre.
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 own fuel and sell at the price that they think is very reasonable and profitable for them,” Onanuga noted.
