The Federal Government has strongly refuted a report alleging that it directed the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to sell fuel at ₦1,000 per liter, which is above the approved pump price. The report, which claimed that the Minister of Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, issued this directive, has been dismissed as false and misleading.
In an official statement issued by Nnemaka Okafor, the Special Adviser on Media and Communication to the Minister, Lokpobiri emphasized that the report was a fabrication designed to create confusion and discord within the oil industry. He clarified that the federal government has never influenced or directed any changes in fuel pricing.
The statement read, “The Federal Government is compelled to address the outright falsehoods currently being circulated on social media, which claim that the Minister of Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, has directed the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited to inflate petroleum prices above the approved pump price. We categorically condemn these claims as baseless, malicious, and a deliberate attempt to incite public discontent.”
Lokpobiri further stressed that NNPCL operates independently under the Companies and Allied Matters Act, with its Board of Directors making decisions autonomously, including those related to pricing. He reiterated that the Ministry of Petroleum Resources does not interfere in NNPCL’s internal decisions, particularly regarding fuel pricing, and urged the public to disregard the misleading claims.
