The Group Chief Executive Officer, Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Ltd, Mele Kyari, has stated that its current share of 30 per cent of the petrol stations nationwide is to afford Nigerians competitive price of petroleum products and avoid being held ransom by private owners.

Kyari, who was speaking during a courtesy visit to the corporate headquarters of Media Trust Group (MTG) yesterday in Abuja, said the acquisition of Oando is to give Nigerians a better option to source their energy products especially when petrol subsidy is removed.

While stating that provision of retail petroleum products is what the company is mostly known for, it is only 10 percent of activities.

"What keeps the GMD of NNPC awake is the fuel station but that is really not our work but it tells you a lot about our social situation because petroleum is still the major source of driving vehicles in our country as we are still a long way away from adopting electric vehicles.

"We are really far away from that reality; we understand this and that is why we took a bold effort to procure the Oando chain of fuel stations so that we can scale our market share. With this, nobody will hold us to ransom, that means if we are able to complete what we are doing now and all NNPC stations work all the time, no one will hold Nigerians to ransom and people can get competitive prices for products they will buy."

He added that the Nigerian is bereft of foreign investment due to uncertainty in the fiscal environment and the lack of power.

He therefore reiterated the need for the country to scale up gas infrastructure to meet the energy demand as fossil fuel is losing attention.

On his part, MTG's Director of Business Strategy, Ahmad Shekarau, emphasized on the need for the two companies to strengthen their relationship and assured that all its platforms are available to inform Nigerians on the activities of the company.