Nigeria’s headline inflation rate dropped to 32.15 per cent for the month of August 2024, according to the latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

This represents a 1.25% percentage point decrease from the 33.4 per cent recorded in July 2024 and the second consecutive monthly slowdown in inflation after easing in the previous month.

The NBS, in its Consumer Price Index report posted on its website on Monday, signals a slower pace in the increase of the average price level compared to the previous month.

The report read, “In August 2024, the headline inflation rate further eased to 32.15 per cent relative to the July 2024 headline inflation rate of 33.40 per cent.”

On a year-on-year basis, the August 2024 inflation rate was 6.35 percentage points higher than the 25.80 per cent rate recorded in August 2023, indicating a significant increase over the past year.

On a month-on-month basis, the inflation rate in August 2024 stood at 2.22 per cent, slightly lower than July’s rate of 2.28 per cent, signalling a slower pace in the increase of the average price level compared to the previous month.

It added that Food inflation was 37.52 per cent in August 2024, while Month-on-Month headline inflation was 2.22 per cent.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited says petrol will be sold at N950.22 per litre across all its retail outlets in Lagos.

In a social media post on Monday, the NNPC said the estimated pump price is based on prices set by the Dangote refinery for its petroleum products.

According to the price map shared by the NNPC, residents in the northern part of Nigeria will pay more for the product, with those in Borno expected to pay the highest petrol pump price of N1,019.22.

The commodity will be at N999.22 per litre in the federal capital territory (FCT), Abuja.

“The NNPC Ltd also wishes to state that, in line with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), PMS prices are not set by Government, but negotiated directly between parties on an arms length,” the NNPC said.

“The NNPC Ltd can confirm that it is paying Dangote Refinery in USD for September 2024 PMS offtake, as Naira transactions will only commence on October 1st, 2024. The NNPC Ltd assures that if the quoted pricing is disputed, it will be grateful for any discount from the Dangote Refinery, which will be passed on 100% to the general public.

“Attached to this statement are the estimated pump prices of PMS (obtained from the Dangote Refinery) across NNPC Retail Stations in the country, based on September 2024 pricing.”

On September 15, the NNPC commenced petrol lifting at the gantry of the refinery after a protracted period of price negotiations.

The development, touted as a panacea to Nigeria’s chronic supply challenges, followed the deployment of NNPC’s trucks to the refinery on September 14.

At the close of loading on Sunday, the NNPC had said it bought petrol from Dangote refinery at N898 per litre.

However, the Dangote refinery countered the claim, describing it as “both misleading and mischievous”.

Dangote Petroleum Refinery says the claim by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited that the refiner sold petrol at N898 per litre is misleading.

In a statement on Sunday, the company described the claim by NNPC as “mischievous”.

Earlier, Olufemi Soneye, the chief corporate communications officer of NNPC, told TheCable that “this initial loading, it was N898 per litre so far”.

NNPC began loading petrol from the refinery on Sunday.

Addressing the price announced by NNPC, Dangote refinery said Nigerians should disregard the “malicious statement” and await a formal announcement on the pricing by the technical sub-committee on naira-based crude sales to local refineries.

“Our attention has been drawn to a statement attributed to NNPCL spokesperson, Mr. Olufemi Soneye, that we sell our PMS at N898 per litre to the NNPCL,” the company said.

“This statement is both misleading and mischievous, deliberately aimed at undermining the milestone achievement recorded today, September 15, 2024, towards addressing energy insufficiency and insecurity, which has bedeviled the economy in the past 50 years.

“We urge Nigerians to disregard this malicious statement and await a formal announcement on the pricing, by the Technical Sub-Committee on Naira-based crude sales to local refineries, appointed by His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, which will commence on October 1, 2024, bearing in mind that our current stock of crude was procured in dollars.

“It should also be noted that we sold the products to NNPCL in dollars with a lot of savings against what they are currently importing. With this action, there will be petrol in every local government area of the country regardless of their remote nature.”

Dangote refinery assured Nigerians of the availability of quality petroleum products and ending petrol scarcity in the country.

On Saturday, NNPC mobilised over 100 trucks to Dangote refinery to load petrol after the federal government said the national oil company will be the sole distributor for petrol produced by the refiner.

The company commenced petrol production on September 3.

On the same day, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) said the Dangote refinery is expected to supply 25 million litres of petrol daily in September and will subsequently increase the volume to 30 million litres daily from October.