No intentions to reduce petrol price —NNPC

Firstclass newsline gathered that the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation has debunked claims that it is planning to slash the pump
price of Premium Motor Spirit, otherwise called petrol, to N57 per
litre.
This was in reaction to social media reports of a reduction in current
pump price of petrol from N87 per litre to N57.
Describing the reports as false, the corporation advised members of
the public to ignore such tales, adding that the price of petrol
remained N87 per litre.
In a related development, a major step towards ensuring zero fuel
queues throughout the country ahead of the forthcoming Yuletide and
beyond started on Monday with a meeting between the Group Managing
Director of the NNPC, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, and members of the Major Oil
Marketers Association of Nigeria and Depot and Petroleum Products
Marketers' Association at the NNPC Towers, Abuja.
At the end of the session, the NNPC and the key downstream operators
reached a consensus to work together to eliminate all obstacles that
could hamper the free flow of petroleum products across the country, a
statement by the spokesperson for the NNPC, Mr. Ohi Alegbe, indicated.
Addressing the downstream stakeholders, Kachikwu was quoted as stating
that the issue of uninterrupted supply and distribution of petroleum
products across the country was of utmost importance to the present
administration, noting that government was willing to do everything
possible to ensure that members of the public did not go through any
form of hardship in accessing petroleum products, particularly PMS.
On the protracted subject of outstanding payment to the oil marketers,
he promised to work with other relevant Federal Government agencies to
fast-track the payment of the debt, promising in the interim to
arrange for a meeting with the relevant creditors to ease off pressure
on the marketers and extend their credit lines.
He noted that several financing mechanisms were being explored to
offset the commitment to the oil marketers, hinting at the possibility
of exploring the monthly payment option.
"In the future, we may explore some creative means to prevent
backlogs," Kachikwu added.
The Secretary General, MOMAN, Mr. Femi Olawore, commended the GMD for
his support and pledged the readiness of the marketers to work with
the Federal Government in ensuring zero fuel scarcity across the
nation during the forthcoming Yuletide and even beyond.
Olawore called on the NNPC boss to facilitate the constitution of a
special committee to verify and authenticate the current national PMS
consumption figure of 40 million litres per day.
Also, the Chairman of DAPPMA, Chief Dapo Abiodun, commended the NNPC
for what he termed improved services at various PPMC product loading
facilities and urged the new management of the company to sustain the
tempo.
Firstclassnewsline.net