Group Exonerates NNPCL From Fixing Petroleum Pump Price

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPC Ltd) has been exonerated from fixing the pump price of petroleum in the country but rather the price is being fixed by a body known as the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Agency (NMDPRA).

Recall that the NMDPRA is ordinarily responsible for the regulation of the midstream and downstream petroleum operations in Nigeria which includes technical, operational, and commercial activities including the determination of appropriate tariff methodology.

In media on Thursday in Yenagoa, a group that called themselves friends of the Towers disclosed that rather than bullying the NNPCL, Nigerians should praise them adding that it has made so many achievements.

The group also disclosed that NMDPRA was supposed to monitor all the filling stations in the country to make sure that they didn’t sell Petroleum outside the automated price.

Speaking at the event, Solomon Oseagah, one of the conveners who identified himself as a media practitioner and player in the oil and gas industry called on journalists to always fact check their information as it relates to NNPCL before going to the press.

According to Solomon, the Group Managing Director of NNPCL, Mele Kyari has shown that the company is no longer an opaque company as it has opened its financial records to the public.

On the Port Harcourt refinery and its delay, Solomon stated that the refinery was already refining a product while PMS would be rolled out before the end of the year.

He said, Mele Kyari has shown that the company is no longer an opaque company hence it has opened its financial records to the public, the first of its kind since NNPC was formed.”

“As a matter of fact, NNPCL has arrested over 1000 persons who were involved in the vandalization of oil assets while others committed economic sabotage but NNPCL has not been facilitating their prosecution despite all the evidence they had presented before the courts.”

Also speaking, Ekerete Friday, the Akwa Ibom State Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) PRO revealed that in his own area of operation, the NNPCL has reduced oil bunkering across the waters by ninety per cent adding that “the same has also been achieved in Bayelsa State.”

The conveners outlined the achievements of the GMD of NNPCL which include a command room where all operations and assets of the company are viewed and promised to have journalists visit the headquarters to have a first-hand experience of it and take the message back to the people.

The journalists however called on the NNPCL to provide first-hand information instead of keeping quiet and allowing their reputation to be damaged.