On Thursday, human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana, accused the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) of illegally fixing petrol prices, News About Nigeria reports.
Speaking in a statement, Falana said the action by the petroleum company contravened the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).
Falana also referred to the clarification made on September 5, 2024, by the Executive Vice President of Downstream NNPC Ltd, Adedapo Segun, that under Section 205 of the Petroleum Industry Act, NNPC Limited is established to operate in a deregulated market where free market forces determine petroleum prices.
The statement partly reads, “Yesterday (Wednesday), the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited announced new pump prices of fuel refined by the Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical Company. Once again, the so-called market forces were not allowed to fix the new prices of fuel.
“The decisions of the NNPCL to fix the prices of imported fuel and locally refined fuel are illegal, nullity, and void as they contravene the provisions of Section 205 of the Petroleum Industry Act, which stipulates that the prices of petroleum products shall be determined by market forces,” he added.
Recall that Nigerians yesterday woke up to the news of NNPCL retail outlets’ new pump price of petrol in Lagos and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
With this new price, in Abuja, the NNPCL retail outlets hiked the price of the essential commodity from ₦897 to ₦1,030. Similarly, in Lagos, NNPCL outlets sold a litre of petrol for ₦998, about ₦150 higher than the initial price of ₦855 which was sold on Tuesday.
