Oil marketers, on Monday, criticised the import monopoly held by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, noting that the situation was not helping the petrol market.
In his presentation at a virtual press
workshop themed, ‘Deregulation: Understanding the Downstream Supply Chain’ held
in Lagos on Monday, General Manager, Operations, TotalEnergies Marketing
Nigeria Limited, Abdulmutalib Rabiu, called for an end to NNPCL’s petrol import
monopoly.
Represented by an independent consultant
and former Group Executive Director, NNPC, Bello Rabiu, TotalEnergies general
manager said the Federal Government should allow healthy competition by
granting licenses and access to foreign exchange to marketers willing to get
into the products importation business.
“But so long as NNPCL remains the sole
importer of products importation, the amount spent on importation should be
published for everyone to see because it is public fund that the company is
using to bring in the products,” he noted.
Chairman, Major Oil Marketers Association
of Nigeria, Olumide Adeosun, said there were about 2.5bn litres of petroleum
products onshore Lagos waters.
According to him, although the association
was sure that there was sufficient products in-country, the only challenge was
lack of investment in infrastructure to guarantee fast and smooth distribution
of the products to eradicate the scarcity.
“As you can see, as of November, statistics
showed that there was enough products onshore Lagos. However, tight daughter
vessel availability is hampering efforts to discharge offshore Lagos,
contributing to logistics constraints that have seen shortages spring up across
the country.
“The dialogue with the Nigerian people
needs to begin to identify, negotiate and agree these areas and begin implementation
to save the downstream industry, which has been in freefall due to a lack of
investment to maintain, renew and grow assets and facilities such as
refineries, pipelines, depots, trucks, and modern filling stations.”
Secretary and Chief Executive Officer,
MOMAN, Clement Usong, while rounding off the session, said full deregulation of
the petroleum downstream sector should be implemented in phases to cushion the
effects of the sharp rise in Premium Motor Spirit prices.
“Having subsidised PMS for so long,
Nigerian institutions now have a diminished capacity to deal with the current
local energy crisis. A disruption in any part of the supply chain causes ripple
effects and results in queues at stations. As a country, we must begin the
process of price deregulation to reduce this inefficient subsidy,” he said.
Meanwhile, a socio-political group, the
Natives, on Monday in Abuja, decried the burden of fuel subsidy on the growth
of Nigeria economically.
The group urged the State Security Service
to go after oil marketers over the fuel scarcity in the country.
Speaking during a press briefing in Abuja,
the leader of the group, Smart Edwards, commended the intelligence agency for
enforcing ‘sanity and order’.
“We are glad to hear and see the DSS as not
only restraining or curtailing threats but rising up to enforce sanity and
order. It has now become normal that as every festive season approaches, the
gang in the oil industry and national saboteurs embark on their evil ride to
create artificial scarcity and ensue hardship on citizens to satisfy their
profiteering.
“How can we explain that the GCEO NNPCL
Mele Kyari, in his recent determination to sustain gains from the relative
peace and discoveries in the Niger Delta, has not only been seen moving from
location to location to ascertain fuel availability all over the country and he
even announced that there is enough fuel in the depots to meet the consumption
of citizens over this period. Then, suddenly, scarcity emerges to the extent
that half of the roads are now blocked, creating the emergence of long queues
again in the country. This, for us, is absolutely a case of sabotage and
requires thorough investigations.
“Last month, the Ex-Militant, Government
Tompolo, made a grand exposure of the conspiracy in and around Nigeria’s crude
oil by IOCs, powerful forces and locals. The revelation also exposed
collaboration by security agencies. In the same vien the Mele Kyari, GCEO NNPCL
once said his life was under threat. This, no doubt, reveals that there is a hidden
powerful cartel behind this plundering
of the Nation’s Wealth, who are economically profiting from National Sabotage.
The group said Nigerians should support the
security forces to expose those trying to sabotage the Nigerian economy.
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