- Denies lobbying Buhari to hike cost
Chineme Okafor in Abuja
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has provided a justification for its recent adjustment of petrol pump price at its retail outlets. The corporation also denied ever meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari to lobby for his approval of an increase in petrol pump prices.
According to a statement from the corporation’s Group General Manager Public Affairs, Mallam Garuba Deen Muhammad, on Monday in Abuja, the NNPC said there was no time its management met with Buhari to push for a hike in the pump price of petrol from its current N145 to N150 per litre.
It said it was not statutorily empowered to make any adjustments in the pricing template of petroleum products approved by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), adding that media reports of such were not true.
The corporation stated that the price adjustment in its downstream facilities from N141 to N145 per litre was still within the price band of N135 and N145 per litre approved on May 11, 2016 by the PPPRA which is the statutory body in charge of petroleum products pricing in Nigeria.
In this regards, it assured marketers and motorists of its readiness to continue to play its statutory role of being the supplier of last resort and ensuring energy security for the country.
