Dangote Refinery has denied a claim credited to the spokesperson of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Olufemi Soneye, that it was selling Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), commonly known as Petrol, to the oil company at N898 per litre.
Dangote said the claim, which has caused frenzy among Nigerians, was not only misleading and mischievous, but deliberately aimed at undermining the milestone achievement recorded on Sunday, September 15, 2024, towards addressing energy insufficiency and insecurity, which has bedeviled Nigeria in the last five decades.
Media reports (not LEADERSHIP) credited to Soneye on Sunday had claimed that NNPCL had started loading petrol from Dangote Refinery in Lagos at the cost of N898 per litre.
But, Dangote Refinery, through a statement signed by the Dangote Group’s Chief Branding and Communications Officer, Anthony Chiejina, on Sunday night, urged Nigerians to disregard the ‘malicious statement’ and await a formal announcement on the pricing of its product.
“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,” Chiejina stated.
Dangote Group, therefore, assured Nigerians of availability of quality petroleum product and putting an end to the endemic fuel scarcity in the country.