The federal government responded to social media reports alleging that the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, had instructed the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to raise petroleum prices to N1,000 per liter above the approved rate.
In a statement released on Tuesday by Nneamaka Okafor, the Special Adviser to the minister, the government condemned these allegations as baseless, malicious, and intended to incite public unrest. The statement emphasized that the government had never interfered in petroleum pricing with the NNPC and had not issued directives for price increases.
The government clarified that the federal authorities felt compelled to address the misinformation being spread on social media, which claimed that Senator Heineken Lokpobiri had directed the NNPCL to inflate petroleum prices. The government stated that it viewed these claims as groundless, malicious, and deliberately aimed at provoking public dissatisfaction. It also challenged anyone with evidence, whether in the form of documents, audio, or video, supporting these allegations to present it publicly.
The statement described the allegations as completely false and suggested that they were intended to mislead the public. The government also emphasized that the NNPCL operates independently under the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA), with a fully autonomous Board of Directors. It further explained that the Ministry of Petroleum Resources does not interfere in the internal decisions of the NNPCL, including pricing matters, and any suggestion otherwise reflects a misunderstanding of the deregulated nature of Nigeria’s petroleum sector.
The statement further clarified that Minister Lokpobiri had only explained the persistence of fuel smuggling and pipeline vandalism. He had mentioned that if the NNPC imports petrol and sells it to marketers at around N600 or below, smuggling would continue, as law enforcement efforts might not be sufficient to stop it.
Finally, the statement highlighted that since the passage and signing of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) in 2021, the NNPC had transitioned from a government entity to a limited liability company, and therefore, it no longer takes orders from the federal government, nor can its decisions be influenced.
