Lucky Obukohwo, Reporting
A human rights lawyer, Femi Falana has queried the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) for fixing prices of petroleum at will, saying that, such action kicked against the Petroleum Industrial Act (PIA).
Recall that Nigerians were shocked again on Wednesday morning when NNPCL retail locations in Lagos and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja, altered the pump price of fuel.
He said that despite the NNPCL’s claims that the market has been deregulated and that forces now determine petrol prices, the company fixed the price of fuel refined by the Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical Company Limited last month, adding that market forces were not permitted to fix the price.
“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 said.