The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has called on Nigerians to disregard trending rumour of a planned hike in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as petrol.
NNPC Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu who made this known in an interview with newsmen in Abuja said the clarification became necessary following the misrepresentation of the speech made by the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mele Kyari during a courtesy visit to the President of the Senate on Wednesday.
He said what the NNPC GMD stated during his engagement with the Senate President, Senator Ahmed Lawan, was that the price of petrol was abysmally low in Nigeria compared to what obtained in neighbouring West African countries.
Ughamadu noted that Kyari had observed at the event that the huge disparity in the pump price of petrol between Nigeria on the one hand and her neighbouring countries, on the other hand, tended to encourage cross-border smuggling
This, according to Ughamadu, was why the NNPC boss sought the support of the leadership of the National Assembly to curb the malaise of smuggling.
His statement added that statutorily NNPC was not even in a position to regulate the price of petroleum products, stressing that the corporation’s role as an operator must be differentiated from that of any of the industry regulators.
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