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•Aliko Dangote, Mele Kyari
Pricing of the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) has been a key agenda in the marathon meetings between the managements of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPCL) and Dangote Petroleum Limited in the last few weeks, The Nation learnt.
A source of the National Oil Company, who was privy to the meetings, which have been holding in the NNPCL Tower, Abuja, said they also tabled other matters relating to pricing.
The source, who only spoke with The Nation in confidence said: “We have been holding meetings for over three weeks now, discussing various issues, with pricing being one of the key topics, along with other related matters.”
The meetings are certainly the roundtable negotiations following their previous disagreements over pricing.
Dangote Group President Aliko Dangote had said the product was regulated by NNPCL.
It also added that the state-owned oil firm was yet to fix the pump for the PMS.
After days of conjecture about the pricing and sale of the product, NNPCL insisted it will certainly procure the product offshore if it is not cheaper in the Nigeria’s domestic refineries.
The NNPCL’s current petrol pump price is N897 per litre with independent marketers vending the product for as much as N1,200 per litre and black marketers selling in plastic Jerry cans uncontrollably for as much as N13,000 per 10 litre.
This has resulted in endless queues around the NNPCL retail outlets and the independent stations. (The Nation)