The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Fuel scarcity

  • Senate to probe fuel scarcity

    Senate to probe fuel scarcity

    Worried by the worsening fuel scarcity in parts of the country, the Senate Thursday mandated its joint committee on Petroleum Resources ( Upstream and Downstream ) to investigate the remote and immediate cause of the scarcity.

    The mandate followed a motion by the Deputy Senate Leader, Senator Abdul Ningi (Bauchi Central) who drew the attention of the Senate to the biting fuel scarcity in the country.

    Ningi told his colleagues that it is obvious that the fuel crisis is creating immeasurable hardship for Nigerians.

    The Senate, he said, should take it as a matter of priority to find out what is behind the lingering fuel scarcity.

    He added that Nigerians should be told whether fuel scarcity has come to stay in the country and whether they have to brace up for the hardship it brings.

    He noted that the best thing to do in the circumstance is to ask relevant committees to dig into the crisis so that the Senate would be in a position to brief Nigerians.

    Ningi said that the Senate cannot pretend not to be aware that Nigerians are suffering for no fault of theirs due to prolonged fuel scarcity.

    He noted that since the Seventh Senate still had the mandate of the people‎ until June 1, the upper chamber had the responsibility to intervene in the crisis of fuel scarcity in the interest of the people.

    Ningi said, “We need to know whether fuel scarcity has come to stay. We need to know whether it has become part of our life so that we can plan.

    “By planning and talking about it we will be able to sensitise Nigerians to brace up for the impending issue of fuel scarcity whether it is going to be here permanently or temporary.

    “But we can’t know all these things until we hear from the experts. Therefore my prayer is to ask the committee on downstream and upstream to come up with explanations next Tuesday through which Nigerians will know and plan their future.

    “Otherwise, I think it is legally and morally wrong to keep silent about it, sweep it under the carpet and to continue to believe these things are usual.”

    Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over the plenary, did not allow debate of the motion.

    Ekweremadu said that since Ningi raised the motion under personal explanation, the Senate would not debate it.

    Ekweremadu said, “Ningi’s prayers are simple and straightforward. He is asking us, as representatives of the people, to direct our committees on Petroleum Upstream and Downstream to find out what is currently going on the oil sector and possibly find a way of addressing it.

    “In that regard, we now ask our committees on Petroleum Resources ( Upstream and Downstream), to find out what is going on and what the government is doing about it and report back on Tuesday next week.”

  • Fuel scarcity: NUPENG alleges closure of depots to tanker drivers

    Fuel scarcity: NUPENG alleges closure of depots to tanker drivers

    The National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) on Monday said the prevailing fuel scarcity may worsen if depot owners shut their depots to tanker drivers.

    Mr. Tokunbo Korodo, the South-West Chairman of the union told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that no tanker driver had loaded petroleum products as at 1.30 p.m on Monday.

    “What I was told was that the independent depot owners may have shut their depots to tanker drivers because of the over N200 billion owed them by the Federal Government.

    “The other information I got was that the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketing Association (DAPPMA) is meeting with the President-elect on the subsidy issue.

    “I think the outcome of that meeting may determine if DAPPMA will reopen the depots for loading or import more into the country.

    “But as at 1.30 p.m. on Monday none of the union members has loaded fuel from DAPPMA depots in Apapa,” Korodo said.

    He said that the relocation of tankers from highways and the inability to load fuel at the depots were responsible for the free-flow of traffic in Apapa axis.

    Korodo said that DAPPMA and major marketers were aggrieved over the yet to be settled subsidy claims.

    Efforts to obtain comment from Mr. Adewole Olufemi, Secretary General of DAPPMA on the closure of depots failed.

    Korodo added that the recent directive by the Lagos State Government for tanker drivers to relocate from the highways within 48 hours had not yielded any result.

    According to him, tanker drivers have vacated the highways but other heavy duty vehicles, especially container drivers have taken over.

    “The government cannot chase tanker drivers away for other heavy duty vehicles to occupy the space.

    “Lagosians should know that tankers have not been the problem of gridlock in Lagos.

    “We occupied the road because we were told to pick fuel only at Apapa,” he said.

    He urged the government to settle importers for calm to return to the sector.

    NAN reports that the petroleum products’ marketers said on May 14 they would no longer import products except the Federal Government settle their subsidy claims.

    The marketers said that the last meeting they had with the Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in Abuja ended in a deadlock.

    The government had put the subsidy debt at N131 billion while the marketers insisted on N200 billion.

  • ‘Fuel scarcity to persist until N200b debt is paid’

    ‘Fuel scarcity to persist until N200b debt is paid’

    The fuel scarcity may linger until the incoming government of General Muhammadu Buhari government takes over on May 29.

    Members of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) and the Ministry of Finance have refused to agree on the way forward.

    The oil marketers have stopped importation of the product.

    The Executive Secretary of MOMAN, Mr. Obafemi Olawore and the Executive Secretary of Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPPMA), Mr. Olufemi Adewole, told reporters yesterday in Lagos that government should pay the over N200 billion subsidy debt to enable them resume importation so as to free Apapa, Lagos roads from congestion as trucks from every part of the country have relocated to load fuel.

    The marketers said if the current regime fails to pay their debt, they will approach the incoming government. This implies that fuel scarcity will continue into the Buhari-led government.

    Olawore said: “Because of the huge outstanding that we have, and because we have not been able to pay back the loans that we have taken, and because our suppliers are also not too confident, we are unable to bring in fresh imports. Whatever we have now is what we have received from NNPC and the small quantity is why all the trucks are hanging on in Lagos.

    “For the two weeks that you have seen all this madness or fuel scarcity on the road in Lagos, nobody has spoken with us. Even the last meeting we had with the Minister, we requested for it and we believe that if they are sensitive, they should call us this time to ask us.

    “In the last meeting with the Coordinating Minister, I insisted on N200 billion but she insisted on N131 billion but the way to resolve that figure was the timing. She probably might be using an old cut-off date and we were using a current cut-off date as at that time. She decided to set up a committee comprising representatives from Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Debt Management Office (DMO), among others to verify our claim. But we are of the opinion that there was no need to verify what has been verified by the PPPRA. The entire thing by the finance ministry is just a ploy to delay payment.”

    But if the present regime fails to pay, Olawore said: “The debt was incurred in the present regime and we believe that they should pay. However, if they don’t pay, we will approach the new government and tell them what happened. Whether we will resume importation of fuel depends on whether we have money or not.”

    Adewole said: “All the monies that we are being owed, the interests increase on daily basis and we are pleading that the Federal Government should pay our members. The logjam you see in Apapa is part of the result of not having the product. When tankers come to Lagos, instead of lifting fuel from our depots to their various locations and destinations, they wait because there is no product to lift. The two associations were owed N200 billion as at February but between February and now, the debt has risen due to interests on bank loans.

    Currently, it is only importation made by the NNPC that is distributed and the corporation can only import what can meet 59 per cent of national fuel consumption.”

  • Staple food price skyrockets as fuel scarcity lingers

    Staple food price skyrockets as fuel scarcity lingers

    These last weeks have seen massive increment in the prices of staple food items and other commodities in the country. Traders have attributed the increment to the continuous and acute scarcity of refine petroleum products, particularly petrol and they say it has a negative effect on their business. TONIA ‘DIYAN reports.  

    It’s been three weeks since the recent fuel scarcity problem facing the country began. The acute scarcity of the petroleum product nationwide has resulted to increment in the prices of staple food items.

    Prices of staple food items as well as other commodities will not be reduced according to traders of these items. They are attributing the increment to high cost of transporting goods from their places of purchase to the market.

    • Tomatoes seller
    • Tomatoes seller

    Observations from some markets in Lagos has revealed that these traders have either increased the prices of items they sell or haven’t been able to provide such items for their customers as a result of the continuous fuel scarcity . They say cost of transporting these items from the farm or their places of purchase to the market has become more expensive than buying the items since the fuel scarcity challenge started.

    Few filling stations that have petrol to sell are using the scarcity as an excuse to sell at very high prices of N150 and N200 per litre, instead of the usual N87 per litre. Market men and women say the increment has a negative effect on their businesses and that prices of their produce will remain high and staple items will be out of stock for as long as this problem continues.

    Survey on other major markets in the Lagos metropolis has also confirm that prices of food items and that of other commodities will remain high till the present fuel scarcity returns to normalcy. Some items are now sold almost three times their usual prices.

    Also restaurants and canteens are now encouraged to increase how much they sell their meals saying they purchase foodstuff at high prices. A food vendor at Ladipo in Mushin, Lagos, Mrs Rukayat Adebayo said foodstuffs have become very expensive, attributing the hike to high cost of transportation by motorists who help her move the items to their destinations “Some merchants who I patronize told me they sell to make profit and so, they will have to include the transportation fare to the original prices. I am left with no choice but to buy and also sell at exorbitant prices to my customers “

    At Daleko market, a trader, Mutiat Aruna, said she paid twice the fare of transporting her produce to the market because motorist complained they bought few litres of patrol for three times its original price.

    In recent times, Beans has been the most expensive and consumers have not stopped lamenting due to its unstable price-especially those brought from the northern part of the country. Mrs Adenike Taiwo, who sells beans in small and large quantities at Daleko market in Iyana-Isolo, Lagos, complained that a bag of Oloyin beans which used to cost N13, 000 is now N14,000. To sell in bits, a derica cup goes for N220 as against 180.

    Mr Lazarus Okenyi sells rice and beans in large and small quantity at Mushin-Ojuwoye market, he said the price of food item he sells has increased by 5percent. He gave the new prices as; Arozo for N8, 500 as against the former N8,000. If he has to sell the item in bits, he said a derica cup cost N180 instead of N130. Special Rice according to Okenyi is now N10, 500 and N11, 000, while a derica cup cost N200 instead of N160.

    Survey shows that the price of garri, which is regarded as a common staple food among low income earners has also increased, jumping to N400, sometimes N500 for a brand while another brand sells for between N300and N350. A bag of yellow garri is N4, 500, it used to be N3,500.

    At Daleko Market, Special rice used to be N9, 300 and N9, 500 while Arozo was N7,500. These prices have now increased.

    Mrs. Barakat Ogundele who sells Tomatoes and Pepper at Agege market said she buys from Mile 12 market and the prices have moved up a little but she laments that the cost of transporting her produce to the market is very expensive. “Before i used to pay N200 to transport my goods, since the fuel scarcity started, I have been paying N500. It is very painful that I have to ask the motorist whether what I am carrying now is more than what I used to carry. I will be left with no choice but to add that additional N300 to the price of my goods.” Ogundele gave the price of a basket of tomato as N5,000 and N6,000 depending on the size of the basket. Pepper she said has reduced in quantity instead of increasing in price.

    Mrs Silifatu Ogunbiyi, a shopper seen at one of the markets said there is nothing like little increment. “No increment is small o! When I get home and add all I have bought together, I will be surprised at the amount I have spent to buy this little item.”

  • Fuel scarcity and subsidy swindlers

    Fuel scarcity and subsidy swindlers

    “I’m for truth, no matter who tells it. I’m for justice, no matter who it is for or against.’’————-Malcolm X

    During electioneering that preceded the last presidential election, outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan threw fast political bait on Nigerians. Among other ulterior motivated inducement, he reduced the tariff on electricity, which had quite been high, even when power supply has remained epileptic or sometimes non-existent. He also swallowed his duplicitous pride on high petroleum product pricing that he commenced on January1, 2012, when suddenly and suspiciously, he announced before the election an inconsequential N10 reduction in the pump price of petrol from N97 to N87.

    Now that the elections in which Nigerians resoundingly rejected Jonathan had gone, the game of fraud and deceit of his outgoing administration continues. Fuel scarcity has surprisingly resurfaced and this time, in a very excruciating manner. For third consecutive weeks of fuel scarcity, Jonathan has, in unmistakably terms, shown to Nigerians the legacy of pains and anguish he plans to bequeath unto Nigerians and; the snare he intends to lay for the incoming federal administration of President-elect Mohammadu Buhari. The Jonathan administration has tried, albeit erroneously, to cover its dubious ‘oily’ track.

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has better amplified the incumbent administration’s foolhardiness. Isn’t it an irony that at this time of intense fuel scarcity, when Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly called petrol sells for N140 from the pump and far higher price at the black market, the NNPC and its downstream subsidiary, the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC) claim to have in stock 1.2 billion litres of PMS. Going by the projected 40million petrol daily consumption rate of Nigerians, the figure could conveniently be sufficient for 31 days. So the question: What is delaying the distribution of this product if indeed the corporation has its claims in stock? The corporation and its paymasters are just wallowing in their tomfoolery.

    More of this horseplay underscores the kind of leadership that rules over the corporation and even the nation. For instance, this column considers as an aberration the recent statement credited to Haruna Momoh, Managing Director of PPMC to the effect that 21 additional vessels laden with petroleum products are offshore Lagos waiting to berth. More laughable is the fact that Momoh also stated that NNPC has Automotive Gas Oil (AGO), also known as diesel that could last the nation for 21 days and Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK) better known as kerosene that could last for 18 days. Why are these items not readily available to Nigerians that need them to do virtually everything that the government ought to provide for them?

    The excuse of petroleum products losses to pipeline vandalism is watery, not even when one knows that not a single suspect out of the culprits involved in the recorded 3,517 vandalised points in 2013 and 3,774 in 2014 has been convicted despite the fact that 97 pipeline vandals, since over two years, have been arraigned and are currently undergoing criminal trial for economic sabotage.

    The issue of fuel subsidy has wantonly become an avenue for economic saboteurs masquerading as champions of economic emancipation in the corridors of power to loot the public till and pass the suffering on vulnerable Nigerians. The issue of subsidy is as bemusing as it  has become an engine of fraud of the outgoing regime, and Nigerians are being made to pay for the ineptitude and graft of successive administrations over the years that spent billions of naira on Turn Around Maintenance and yet could not provide refined petroleum for the use of Nigerians in a country where electricity has become unavailable and; where available, has been routinely epileptic, despite the widely touted power reforms that had gulped billions of dollars with no commensurate result to show for it.

    Now, Nigerians have been told that the current scarcity was a consequence of the Federal Government’s failure to meet its obligation to major oil marketers as at the end of March 2015. Despite government’s assurance of settling all outstanding allowance, no significant result was witnessed as Nigerians continue to endlessly queue for fuel that is either sold at exorbitant prices or not available at all in most instances. The entire shameful act looks more like a scandal and a sham designed to fleece Nigeria of money that could have been used to develop her obviously grossly inadequate infrastructure.

    The trade union being used by this government in the oil sector to hold Nigerians to ransom and to achieve its wooly aim is the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, (MOMAN) that claims that because it currently owes transporters the sum of N20 billion due to the failure of government to pay money being owed it, it is finding it difficult to transport petroleum products to all parts of the country. The body’s recalcitrant posture in the entire scenario, once again, looks more like an orchestrated drama that it is.

    The unfortunate outcome of Jonathan’s game of fraud on the fuel subsidy issue that surprisingly bothers no one in government at the moment should not go without adequate scrutiny of the incoming government at the centre. Somebody must be held accountable for the $20billion dollars oil money that is missing through the NNPC. The money purportedly being owed these major marketers is a ruse that must also be properly investigated. The whole subsidy scenario reeks of scam that the parties involved do not even think of the harsh consequences of their action on the people.

    Let them be reminded that virtually all homes in the country rely on fuel to power their generators simply because the government has failed in its duty to do so. Now with the current price hike, it is apparent that most Nigerians could no longer afford the high cost of fuel and diesel. No wonder that millions of Nigerians now rely on environmental fresh air available through their windows to survive the harsh weather despite the risk of insecurity and that of menacing threat of mosquitoes bites that have been scientifically proved to be ready made carriers of malaria parasite.

    The more pertinent questions at this juncture: When is fuel scarcity going to end despite the fact that a monstrous N6.35 trillion has reportedly been spent as subsidy in the past five years? Is it possible to truncate the evil plans of the subsidy cabals that have taken the country hostage under the guise of providing fuel subsidy? When is the trial of those children of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) bigwigs that were involved in the subsidy scam going to continue? Why was it delayed, or perhaps discontinued, whatever is applicable? Could it a case of their being above the law?

    Furthermore, is the country, as oil producing nation, not ashamed of being the only one in that class still importing refined petroleum products for her domestic consumption? Why is it that it is only in Nigeria, of all the oil-producing countries that refineries are not working? These are some of the questions begging for prompt answers that could possibly lead to arraignment of more of those behind the subsidy racket and also lead to termination of the fuel search sufferings of Nigerians when President-elect Buhari assumes office on May29, 2015. An end to this fuel scarcity must be sought and once again, those behind the act, when found wanting, should be sanctioned.

  • Fuel scarcity worsens Lagos traffic

    Fuel scarcity worsens Lagos traffic


  • Fuel scarcity …a problem that won’t abate

    Fuel scarcity …a problem that won’t abate

    “The problems of  fuel supply keeps  reverberating in the industry. One of such problems was payment of certain fees by marketers before loading. Cases abound where marketers are prevented from loading fuel until they pay the money”

    WILL the lingering fuel scarcity ever abate? Neither the Federal Government, nor any of the stakeholders in the importation and distribution chain of petroleum products can convincingly answer this question.

    After their parley in Abuja penultimate Monday, the Federal Government and the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) promised that the scarcity would end before that week. But nine days after that promise, Nigerians still go through pains to buy fuel.

    The product has not only become scarcer, the prices have soared with almost all the filling stations selling above the approved N87 per litre ceiling.

    It was learnt yesterday that the NNPC depot in Lagos has been overwhelmed by marketers, who could not load products from depots owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in other parts of  the country.

    In the Apapa axis, where the depots are concentrated, there were long queues of trucks waiting to load product en route other parts of the country but could not do so.

    Stakeholders blamed the situation on marketers’ failure  to meet part of the conditions outlined in the Bulk Purchasing Agreements (BPAs), which they signed with the NNPC to allow them access to petroleum products from the depots.

    The Nation gathered that many marketers could not pay N2.5 million meet other conditions laid out for them before they can lift fuel.

    The development came on the heels of the suspension placed by MOMAN on the importation of fuel, following the seemingly irreconcilable disagreement between its members and the Federal Government over subsidy payment.

    According to MOMAN, the government is still indebted to its members to the tune of N200 billion after paying the controversial N156 billion.

    MOMAN’s President Femi Olawore said his association got N154 billion  and not N156 billion as announced by the minister.

    Dr. Okonjo-Iweala has insisted that the subsidy balance was N130 billion.

    As at yesterday, MOMAN members – Mobil, Forte Oil, MRS, Oando, Total and Conoil – were yet to resume importation, without which the scarcity will persist.

    More than a week after major oil marketers acknowledged the receipts of N154 billion of the N156 billion the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, claimed the Federal Government paid and a botched  meeting she led other officials to hold with the marketers, there is no sign the scarcity will end soon.

    The National President of Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Chinedu Okoronkwo, gave an insight into the problems yesterday.

    He said the problems were not only many but complicated, blaming the inability of his members to lift fuel on financial constraints.

    His words: “Independent marketers are unable to load from the depots belonging to the national oil company (NNPC) because they could not pay certain fees. The Federal Government has not settled us via paying our subsidies.

    “The fuel scarcity has caused a lot of ripples in the industry. There is a long queue of trucks waiting to load fuel from depots. Getting to depots to load is a problem. A lot of trucks could not load fuel because of one problem or the other.”

    Okoronkwo also identified the pipeline network as another problem stalling fuel distribution.

    He said the pipelines were laid in a way that cannot guarantee even distribution of products to the depots, thus making it difficult for marketers to load fuel as at when due.

    “One of the reasons why fuel scarcity persists is the location of the pipelines. Instead of ensuring distribution of fuel across the country, the fuel supply is restricted to Lagos. Everybody is coming to Lagos to load fuel. That is the reason behind the queue in Apapa and other loading points in Lagos,” Okoronkwo said.

    He urged the Federal Government to pay attention to the pipeline network to reduce fuel supply problems.

    The IPMAN, which said depot managers across the country should be held responsible over the prolonged scarcity, called on the PPMC to immediately redeploy all depot managers who have served for more than a decade in their stations.

    This position was echoed by the Eastern Zonal chairman of the association, Chief Chukwudi Ezinwa, who told reporters in Enugu, that the PPMC management should  be blamed for allowing a manager to stay for as long as 18 years in a particular depot.

    He accused them of sabotaging the system which, he noted, often leads to scarcity and hike in products’ prices.

    Ezinwa said: “The problem is that most of them have over-stayed in a particular depot where they have made so many friends and in a bid to satisfy those interests, other marketers are suffering. So, they should be transferred so that new people will come and sanitise the place.

    “There have been occasions where we accused PPMC officials of taking bribe to give us products and nothing has been done about it. Nobody has ever set up an inquiry to investigate these allegations and this raises further question of total corruption in the system.”

    Ezinwa accused the depot managers of frustrating products loading.

    He said: “Rules are no longer followed at the depots; all they do is to give priority to the highest bidders and those loyal to them.

    “The report I got from the unit chairman in Aba shows that the depot manager is not playing according to the rules. PPMC have rules and the rules are that you release products according to the programme.

    “The last batch he released was about 90 trucks but only 12 marketers who were in line got products; others were diverted, making it difficult for marketers in the programme to get and sell to the public.

    “I have made efforts to talk to the depot manager of the consequences of what he is doing but it always fell on deaf ears. As far as IPMAN is concerned, if the Aba depot manager is not changed, there is no way the people in Aba and environs will have petroleum products.

    “It is turning into a market for the highest bidder. And legitimate marketers who are supposed to have products are starved and we have cried for a long time but the government doesn’t appear to be interested in checking the situation.”

    But the Aba depot manager, Mr. Emmanuel Mgbakiri, denied the allegations and wondered why IPMAN should go to the press without first reporting him  to the appropriate authority

    “If he (IPMAN chairman) feels I am the problem, he should go to the area manager and tell him what I have done wrong; there are proper ways of channeling issues. Please, I am a public servant; I am not permitted to talk to the press”, Mgbakiri maintained.

    Kofo Oladehinde, a member of the independent Marketers Branch (IMB) of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG), pointed out some of the hitches in the distribution of fuel.

    He said the development has stalled efforts  by NNPC to make fuel available to the consumers.

    “The problems of fuel supply fuel keeps reverberating in the industry. One of such problems was payment of certain fees by marketers before loading. Cases abound where marketers are prevented from loading fuel until they pay the money,” he said.

    According to Oladehinde, who works at Mosimi Depot,  not a few marketers have been unable to load from the Mosimi Depot.

    NNPC’s spokesman Ohi Alegbe said any marketers who cannot pay the stipulated fees will not be allowed to load products at any of the NNPC depots.

    Alegbe said: “This is business. If you come to the NNPC depots to load fuel, you must meet your financial obligations before you can take our fuel.

    “The moment you pay, you get fuel. If you do not pay, there is no fuel for you. If you allow marketers to take fuel without paying the prescribed fees, we will not be able to run NNPC well.”

     

  • Fuel scarcity and Nigerians’ agony

    SIR: It started like a minor development that would soon fizzle out with time. Most government officials that spoke about it gave glimpse of hope that all will soon be well – that within a couple of days the market would be flooded with petroleum products and that the pains of Nigerians would soon be over. After almost about two weeks of waiting in vain to get this all important product, Nigerians are becoming agitated because of the ensuing agonies and frustrations associated with the scarcity of petroleum product. Most filling stations in major cities across the country have become a beehive of activities with multitudes of people waiting endlessly for the scarce commodity. In the few places where the product is available, it is being sold in very exorbitant prices which make it to be beyond the reach of the ordinary folks.

    From all indications, this particular occurrence might take a bit longer before it subsides. Feelers from experts in the sector have revealed that this current shortage might last for sometime bearing in mind the fact that fuel marketers are not really sure about the likely attitude of the incoming Buhari administration towards fuel subsidy and other related matters. The argument goes that major marketers are being very careful with regards to fuel importation until they are certain about Buhari’s policy direction for the industry.

    It is sad that Nigerians have to suffer so much to get a product that nature has endowed the land with. Those that actually benefit from the oil wealth of the country are the few political and economic elites who get engrossed in many dubious oily deals. What the masses often get is incessant increase in the pump price of the product. Of course, Nigerians are not new to such as successive administrations in the country have had to increase fuel prices on various occasions. A chronicle of increase in the prices of petroleum products in Nigeria reveal that every regime since Gowon has, at one time or the other, tampered with fuel prices for one reason or the other.

    The question, of course is how long Nigerians will continue to bear the burden of the incompetence of those who rule us. It is bad enough that our lives are being endangered as a result of security challenges; worse that  public electricity supply has remained epileptic in spite of several reforms and funds committed into the sector; it is intolerable that Nigerians continue to suffer before they could get access to fuel, a product that providence has blessed the country with.

    It is hoped that the incoming Buhari administration would look into the various allegations of incompetence, lack of transparency and accountability being levied against NNPC. Let the change that Buhari and his party clamoured for begin with the country’s oil sector. This is the time to sanitise the sector to ensure that probity and transparency become the order of the day.  Nigerians do not deserve this continuous suffering in the midst of plenty.

     

    • Tayo Ogunbiyi

    Ministry of Information and Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja.

     

  • Subsidy fears may prolong fuel scarcity

    Subsidy fears may prolong fuel scarcity

    Worse days may be ahead for Nigerians in respect of the current fuel shortage as international traders and local marketers back away from imports over fears that the incoming government will halt costly subsidy payments.

    The federal, state and local governments are so cash strapped that the federal government had to borrow over N400million to pay its workers.

    Already, lines at petrol stations in the major cities are blocking traffic as the country runs out of domestic fuels.

    The shortage in some rural areas is even more acute due to a payment battle between independent retailers and the government.

    “We have exhausted our stocks,” said Stanley Yakubu, a worker at the Forte Filling Station in the Maitama neighborhood of Abuja.

    “We thought government and marketers have resolved their issues but supply is very slow in coming.”

    Traders said new bookings for vital tanker imports of transport fuel into Nigeria have slowed to a trickle and some cargoes offshore are being redirected to other regions.

    Efforts by outgoing president Goodluck Jonathan in 2012 to end expensive subsidies, which would have doubled gasoline prices, led to riots in the street.

    The steep drop in world oil prices would have cushioned consumers from any withdrawal of subsidies but gasoline prices would still jump by roughly 30 percent if the current capped price of N87 per litre is allowed to move closer to N115 it would cost without the government support.

    Additionally, as subsidies cover the difference between the capped price and the cost to buy the fuel on the international market, marketers worry Nigeria could end the payments without letting capped prices rise, leaving them to shoulder the potentially sizeable price difference.

    Nigeria relies on oil exports for 80 percent of its revenue and has already burned through half of its borrowing allowance this year.

    It could follow Angola and Indonesia in cutting expensive subsidies but with crude prices now edging back up after last year’s slump, the most ideal moment may well have passed.

    “The time to cut was January/February, when oil prices were so low,” said Stanislas Drochon, director of Africa oil and gas with IHS.

    “That was really a missed opportunity but it’s not too late.”

    Though Nigeria exports around two million barrels per day of crude, it is almost wholly reliant on imports for the 40 million litres per day of gasoline it consumes, due to inadequate refineries.

    The effort is expensive, accounting for an average of 2.5 percent its gross domestic product from 2006-2012, according to the IMF.

    The government set aside N914 billion for it in 2014.

    Critics say the subsidies are not only inefficient but open to abuse by corrupt operators.

    Imports that have arrived so far this year total at least N300 billion, according to pan-African lender Ecobank, a bill that would come due after incoming President Muhammadu Buhari’s May 29 inauguration.

    “The new regime will be the one who pays the bills,” said Dolapo Oni, a Lagos-based energy analyst with Ecobank.

    “And no one wants to wait for the new government.”

    Buhari has not made clear his plans for subsidies, which are paid by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA).

    The latest budget, passed earlier this week, slashed the money dedicated to it by 90 percent to N100 billion.

    Nigerian banks are already scrambling to limit their exposure to the oil industry at large following the precipitous decline in crude prices.

    “Quite a few players have had issues getting letters of credit,” one trader said.

    “Some people are choosing not to import anything.”

  • Banky W gripes on fuel scarcity

    Banky W gripes on fuel scarcity

    That the recent fuel scarcity hitting the country is affecting most Nigerians is no news. But top showbiz promoter and musician, Banky W, is definitely worried about the lack of fuel.

    Banky W, who is also the CEO of EME Music, took to his Twitter to express his frustration at the over-a-week dearth of fuel in major petrol stations across the country.

    ‘This is ridiculous,’ Banky W wrote, obviously referring to the persistent fuel scarcity. He went further advocating that maybe a strike would teach the petroleum marketers a lesson.

    ‘I wish all of us consumers in Naija could go on strike from buying fuel to give them a taste of their own medicine.’

    However, knowing such could be unattainable, the musician and producer in light-hearted tweet to counter the lack of fuel later said, ‘Na to ride bicycle’ and retweeting a comment, ‘Make everybody waka go office?’