NNPCL decision to fix price of petrol illegal, contemptuous – Falana

The Chair, Alliance on Surviving COVID-19 and Beyond (ASCAB), Femi Falana (SAN) has said that the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) does not have the power to fix price for premium motor spirit (PMS) otherwise known as petrol.
Falana in a statement, said that government decision to fix new prices for petrol on Tuesday was an affront to the rule of law, illegal in every material particular and contemptuous.

He said: “Having liberalised the petroleum sector, the NNPCL lacks the power to fix the prices of petroleum products in any part of Nigeria.

“It is high time that the NNPCL was restrained from further fixing the prices of petroleum products in the country”.

Falana pointed out that the NNPCL is no longer an agency of the Federal Government but a limited liability company which is regulated by the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority in charge of the petroleum industry.

He said the action of the NNPCL has confirmed that the company has continued to exercise monopoly in the importation and distribution of petrol in the country contrary to the letter and spirit of the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021.

Falana recalled that the President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in his inauguration address on May 29, 2023, announced that his administration would govern the country in accordance with the rule of law.

He said the implication of this commitment is that the actions of the government and its agencies will be carried out under the law.

He said Nigerian were taken aback on Tuesday when the NNPCL increased the pump price of petrol from N500 to N617.

He noted that after increasing the price, the NNPCL turned round to claim that it was fixed by market forces.

“It is submitted that the increase of the pump price of petrol by the NNPCL is is an affront to the rule of law on the ground that it is illegal in every material particular”, he submitted.

He further said the action of the NNPCL is contemptuous in view of a subsisting order of a Federal High Court restraining the NNPCL from fixing petrol prices.

To buttress his position, Falana cited the case of Bamidele Aturu v Minister of Petroleum Resources

(Suit No FHC/ABJ/CS/591/2009), in which the plaintiff challenged the plan of the Federal Government to deregulate the downstream sector of the petroleum industry and allow market forces to determine the prices of petroleum products.

He said in a landmark judgment delivered on March 19, 2013, the Federal High Court, presided over by Adamu Bello J. (as he then was) held that by the combined effect of the Petroleum Act, Price Control Act and the Constitution the Federal Government “must always fix the price of petroleum products sold across Nigeria.”

He said the court granted all the reliefs sought by the applicant which included “an order restraining the defendants their agents, privies, collaborators and whosoever and howsoever from deregulating the downstream sector of the petroleum industry or from failing to fix the prices of petroleum products as mandatorily required by the Petroleum Act and the Price Control Act.”

Dissatisfied with the judgment of the Federal High Court, the Federal Government filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal.

Though the appeal has not been determined, he regretted that the NNPCL has usurped the power of the Federal Government to determine and fix the prices of petroleum products in the country. “It is undoubtedly clear that the action of the NNPCL is illegal and contemptuous since the judgment of the Federal High Court on the subject matter has not aside by a higher court”, he contended.