The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) says the ex-depot price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) also known as petrol remains N133.28 per litre.
Ndu Ughamadu, the NNPC Group Spokesman, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Abuja on Tuesday.
He said Nigerians should ignore any speculations that pump price will soon increase.
“The ex-depot price of PMS remains N133.28 per litre as at today and this is according to the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) template.
“NNPC remains the sole importer of the product and we have not increased the price we sell to marketer.
“There is no plan to increase pump price, Nigerians should know that,” he said.
He said the corporation had robust stock pile of products that would last the country for several days, adding that there was no need to engage in panic buying.
He said the corporation over the weekend had strengthen the partnership with Major Oil Marketer Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) to ensure adequate supply of products in the country.
“We also told them not to increase price but if they engage in that, it is illegal and we have instructed the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) to sanction them.
Members of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) had recently warned that the pump price of the PMS may sell above N145.
The IPMAN Chairman of Ore Depot, Shina Amoo, who gave this hint, added that the price of the product has increased at the private depot.
According to him, the private depot owners now sell the product between N136.50 and N137 per litre instead of the former N133.28 per litre approved by the NNPC.
“IPMAN may soon start selling beyond N145 per litre if depot owners continued to sell between N136.50 and N137 per litre,” he said.
Also, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) in Kano State says the association has no plan to sell petrol above the government’s approved price of N145 per litre.
The association also called on Nigerians to ignore the threat made by the IPMAN chairman for Ore Depot, Shina Amoo.
The State IPMAN chairman, Alhaji Bashir Dan-Malam, disclosed this while addressing a news conference in Kano on Tuesday.
Dan-Malam was reacting to a story credited to the IPMAN chairman for Ore Depot, Mr Shina Amoo, where he was quoted to have said that the association might start selling petrol above N145 per litre if depot owners continued to sell the product to them for between N136.50 and N137 per litre
He said the association had no moral justification to sell petrol above the N145 per litre as there was adequate petrol supply in all the 21 depots across the country.
“IPMAN will not sell the fuel above the government’s approved price because there are availability of the product at all the 21 government depots in the country.
“So, I am calling on all marketers to go to these depots and buy the commodity but any marketer who goes to private depots is doing so on his own volition.
“All the 21 depots are selling the product to marketers at the approved price of N133.28 but private depot owners are selling theirs at between N136.05 and N137 per litre.
“So, marketers have the right to either buy from government depots or from the private depot owners at a higher rate, “ he said.
Dan-Malam, who called on the chairman of Ore depot to withdraw the threat, urged the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) to sanction any depot owners who increase the price of petrol.
He called on his members and Nigerians at large to ignore the threat made by the chairman, IPMAN Ore depot, saying that such a threat would not make any impact.
“As I am talking to you now, the Managing Director of PPMC, Umar I. Ajiya, has dispatched a committee to the depot to find out reasons behind the purported increase,” he said.
- NAN