Dangote Group has reacted to the report that it sold premium motor spirit (PMS) popularly known as petrol the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) at N898 per litre, saying the report is “misleading and malicious.”
The company’s Chief Branding and Communication Officer, Anthony Chiejina, in a statement Sunday evening, said Dangote “sold the products to NNPCL in dollars with a lot of savings against what they are currently importing.”
Chiejina urged Nigerians to “await a formal announcement on the pricing, by the Technical Sub-Committee on Naira-based crude sales to local refineries, appointed by His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, which will commence on October 1, 2024.”
NNPCL’s Chief spokesperson, Olufemi Soneye in an interview earlier today said that it bought a litre of petrol from Dangote at N898, debunking an initial claim that it was sold at N760 as reported by many new media.
“We successfully loaded PMS at the Dangote Refinery today. The claim that we purchased it at N760 per liter is incorrect. For this initial loading, the price from the refinery was N898 per liter,” Soneye had said.
The statement from Dangote Group read, “Our attention has been drawn to a statement attributed to NNPCL spokesperson, Mr. Olufemi Soneye, that we sell our PMS at N898 per litre to the NNPCL.
“This statement is both misleading and mischievous, deliberately aimed at undermining the milestone achievement recorded today, September 15, 2024, towards addressing energy insufficiency and insecurity, which has bedeviled the economy in the past 50 years.
“We urge Nigerians to disregard this malicious statement and await a formal announcement on the pricing, by the Technical Sub-Committee on Naira-based crude sales to local refineries, appointed by His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, which will commence on October 1, 2024, bearing in mind that our current stock of crude was procured in dollars.
“It should also be noted that we sold the products to NNPCL in dollars with a lot of savings against what they are currently importing. With this action, there will be petrol in every local government area of the country regardless of their remote nature.
“We assure Nigerians of availability of quality petroleum product and putting an end to the endemic fuel scarcity in the country.
Ifunanya Ikueze is an Engineer, Safety Professional, Writer, Investor, Entrepreneur and Educator.
