Lagos – This may not be the best of times for President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration which promised Nigerians a redefined governance but seemingly derailing from it. Apart from economic crisis, which the country has to contend with, the lingering fuel scarcity is a whirl wind that has not done Nigerians any good.
This is because the administration had promised to end the fuel scarcity through a well articulated policy that would ensure uninterrupted product supply. The crafty reintroduction of the loathsome fuel subsidy by the government after the administration’s removal of same is gradually raising the adrenalin of Nigerians and making them wonder if the price adjustment in the pump price of fuel is not in the offing.
Already the reintroduction of the subsidy has once again pitched the Senate against the Executive, a development, Nigerians are watching with keen interest the outcome as the former has threatened a show down with the executive over what it terms a ‘constitutional breach’ since the money was not allocated in the last budget
It is on records that successive past administrations from President Shehu Shagari had adjusted pump prices in the first quarter of each year, and particularly in January and also actions of the present government from good intentioned to absurd and denials and counter denials, show that government may not have option other than to increase pump price of the product.
It is unfortunate, according to some analysts, that petrol price that led the country into recession is the same that has brought about scarcity and possible upward adjustment in the pump price, with the attendant untold hardship and impoverishment
Their inclusion is, lack of coordinated policies and lip-service to the mouthed economic diversification policy, which has become a political tool for this government.
For two weeks running the Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu and the Group Managing Director of NNPC had been battling with endless ultimatum to clear the mounting queues in fuel stations in Nigeria, it appears the solution to the fuel crises would not come handy as anticipated by Nigerians who had suffered untold hardship over the product squeeze in the country.
Besides, Nigerians are still counting the misfortune they encountered during the Christmas break as a result of the fuel scarcity and the attendant huge costs which hampered their movements for the celebration of the event.
NNPC had also assured on Thursday that the fuel queues in most parts of the country will fizzle out by weekend given the increase in its daily supplies of fuel to 80million litres per day, but checks by Sunday INDEPENDENT at the weekend in major cities of the country revealed the queues may have come to stay.
The economy of Lagos, Port Harcourt, Abuja ,Kano and other cities was practically shut on Friday as a result of the scarcity which hindered exchange of goods and services.
There are insinuations that the development signals that Nigerians would be severely faced with more hardships in the New Year due to fuel squeeze, which was the tradition of previous administration in the country.
Blame Games
One obvious thing about the current fuel scarcity is the blame game among the dramatis parsonae in the country’s petroleum sector.
The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Maikanti Baru, blamed the current scarcity on marketers of the product who hoarded fuel in anticipation of planned increase in the pump price of the product.
President of Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG), Igwe Achese, blamed the development on the activities of cabals which have eaten deep into the fabric of the downstream sector of the nation’s petroleum industry.
One time Petroleum Minister Prof. Tam David-West y blamed the fuel scarcity on high level corruption and fraud in NNPC.
He was shocked that the management of the NNPC continues to allow fraud and corruption in the organisation and wondered why the corporation should buy crude oil at dollar price.
“The selling of the product at N145 per litre is no longer feasible with the current exchange rate. Shortage of foreign exchange and increase in crude prices has made it unprofitable to import petrol and sell same at N145 per litre. The problem is that importation of petrol is being handled, almost 100 per cent, by NNPC, while private importers backed out because the increase in crude price has made the landing cost high,” he said.
There were also groups who believe that the industrial action embarked upon by the PENGASSAN in the twilight of the fuel scarcity was responsible for the large scale product squeeze in the country.
A senior official of PENGASSAN told Sunday INDEPENDENT that his union should not be held responsible for the current scarcity of fuel in the country, adding that the industrial action commenced two weeks before his union issued a 7-day strike ultimatum notice on December 7.
“Then the problem of the government and IPMAN was at the front burner, when IPMAN threatened showdown with the government over irregular supply of petroleum products, despite resolving the problem, the scarcity persists.
‘’Then PENGASSAN issued a strike notice, which did not even last for 14 hours before it was arrested and called off. Government and NNPC assured that there is enough products to go round the Yuletide season. Then why the scarcity? The real reasons were not examined but the scarcity being blamed on wrong reasons. There is scarcity because marketers want petrol price to be increased. They have been arguing that the margin is not profitable and therefore seek increment which the government has been resisting and pegging at N145 per litre.”
NNPC, Marketers ‘Roforofo’ Fight
A new dimension was added to the excruciating fuel scarcity last Sunday when the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPPMA) raised the alarm over the non-existing fuel in their tanks despite the claims by the NNPC to have supplied the former with enough products.
The depot owners , denied the allegation of hoarding of the commodity levied against them by NNPC, blaming the situation on the failure of participants under the Direct Sale of Crude Oil and Direct Purchase of Product(DSDP)scheme to meet their supply quota of refined petroleum product, especially Premium Motors Spirit(PMS) to NNPC.
“We all know that we presently run a fixed price regime of N145 per litre for PMS or petrol without any recourse to subsidy claims. However, we also have no control on the international price of crude oil. Current import price of petrol is about N170 / ltr, NNPC, which absorbs the attendant subsidy on behalf of the Federal Government, is the importer of last resort.
The corporation also said despite the concession by the government giving access to DAPPMA to obtain FOREX at an official rate of N305 per dollar for PMS import, their members have not been able to do so, leaving NNPC as the sole supplier of PMS to the Nigerian market”, it added.
But, the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association(DAPPMA), added an interesting twist to the imbroglio on Thursday when it said its members paid over N90 billion for over a month and yet to get allocation for cargo of fuel from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation(NNPC)/Petroleum Product Marketing Company(PPMC).
The depot owners also claimed they were not aware of any indebtedness to the PPMC to the tune of N26.7billion as at December 21, 2017, saying: “PPMC/NNPC does not transact business with DAPPMA members on credit hence we are not aware of any indebtedness to PPMC/NNPC by our members. We again reject any attempt to blame marketers for the shortfall in supply as it is not our making since NNPC has been the sole importer since October 2017’’.
Subsidy Blues
No doubt, what jolted Nigerians the more was the recent revelation by the Federal government that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation(NNPC) has been paying subsidy on fuel imported into the country, which was contrary to any budgetary allocation in the national budget since the APC government took over power two years ago
President Muhammadu Buhari, who rose to power on the basis of moral credence and integrity had declared the payment of subsidy by his predecessor as a fraud and as a means of lining the pockets of some PDP cronies. The government had on May announced the removal of oil subsidy while marketers funds which hitherto grew to N800billion remained unpaid and had been partly responsible for failure to bring in product from outside the shores of the land.
Maikanti Baru, the Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) had said petrol is being subsidised to the tune of N26 per litre.
The landing cost of petrol (PMS), he said, is N171 per litre, adding that it is being sold at the pump at N145 per litre – a difference of N26.
He said the product was being smuggled across the borders because of the price disparity that exists between Nigeria and the neighbouring countries, adding that the Cost, Insurance and Freight price of PMS is $620 per metric tonne. At N305 to a dollar, the landing cost translates to N171 per litre.
Besides, Nigerians were miffed by an attempt by Vice President Yemi Osibajo’s obtuse rationalisation of the payment of subsidy by the NNPC as if the corporation has no affiliation to the Federal government.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had already accused the ruling government of covertly striating billions of dollars from Nigerians through payment of illegal subsidy on fuel to its cronies.
Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose expressed disappointment over Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo’s comment that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) was bearing the cost of fuel subsidy and not the Federal Government, saying, “What is the difference between NNPC and the Federal Government? Who is NNPC and who is Federal Government? Is NNPC now an autonomous agency of the federal government?”
Suspense
The Minister of Petroleum for State, Dr.Ibe Kachikwu and the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation(NNPC),Dr.Maikanti Baru, had for umpteenth time said current administration has no intent to increase the pump price of fuel given the efforts it is making to restore distribution of fuel in the country.
The minister assured that there was adequate storage facility for imported products, adding that emergency measures were in place to ensure that the products were available during the Yuletide and post-January.
He said that four vessels laden with petroleum products would “berth in a few days and a total of 20 cargoes are also expected with petroleum products’’. Kachikwu said that the NNPC had, last Wednesday, discharged products at its depots, adding that emergency supply, quick truck delivery and stricter monitoring were measures adopted to ensure that queues disappeared.
But Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, thinks the Federal government is double-speaking about the recurrent scarcity of fuel in the country.
According to him, the current scarcity of fuel in the country was a ploy by the Federal Government to justify the planned increment of petrol pump price from N145 to N185 per litre.
The governor, who accused the Federal Government of being insensitive to the plight of Nigerians, said: “Petrol is scarce across the country because the Federal Government deliberately reduced supply since it is only the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation NNPC that is importing the product.”
Comrade (Dr.) Igwe Achese, national president of Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) urged the Federal government, Ministry of Petroleum Resources and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation(NNPC) to tell Nigerians how they plunged the country into another round of fuel scarcity.
‘’NUPENG reiterated the need for the Federal government; Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources and the NNPC to tell the nation what is actually happening, as the two labour unions in the sector are not on strike,” he said.
A public affairs commentator, Kanayo Fidelis, said the Federal government was afraid to tell Nigerians the truth that the prevailing economic environment in the country is a disincentive for oil marketers to sell at the current price cap of N145 per litre. As a businessman who imports petrol, please tell me why I should continue to sell at N145 a litre?
‘’The truth is that the government doesn’t want to tell Nigerians that it had been subsidising petrol in the past two years and it no longer has funds to continue. The same issues raised against Jonathan Administration are the same facing this government with regards to subsidy. The only issue with the present government is that they are hiding the truth from Nigerians and hoping that by 2019, magic will happen.’’
Chief Onovo Martins, a one-time presidential aspirant, said the NNPC simply did not import and distribute sufficient PMS (petrol) for the increased demands in the Christmas season as claimed.
The NNPC is a public corporation and is directly controlled by the political leadership. The root cause of the corruption and ineffectiveness of the NNPC is the political leadership. Constitutionally, we can control or replace the corrupt, mediocre and incompetent political leadership.
Damage Control
The concerned agencies in the nation’s petroleum sector had in the last few weeks battled hard to nip the scarcity in the bud. The latest effort was the intensification of efforts by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps(NSCDC) to clamp down on illegal filling stations.
The Director of DPR, Modecai Ladan, had Thursday visited private depots in Lagos to ascertain the product volumes in the tanks. The agency had also dispensed fuel of stations selling above approved pump price to customers free of charge.
The agency had also warned that any depot that sells fuel above the ex-depot price of N133.38 to petroleum marketers would be liable to three months closure and a fine of twenty million naira fine. The Pipelines and Product Marketing Company (PPMC) would also exclude the erring Depot from Coastal supply allocation for at least a period of one year.
Also depots selling Premium Motors Spirit (PMS), otherwise called fuel to bulk buyers without verifiable retail outlets would be slammed. A fine of ten million naira fine and closure for at least six months, after the products in the Depot have been sold off.
Besides, a fine of N200.00 per litre would be imposed on the hoarded product at retail outlets and the erring station would be closed for at least six months. He said the recovered product would be auctioned off free to the public.
Helpless Situation, Indeterminate Solution
With the efforts put in place by the agencies of the federal government to checkmate the scarcity in the bud, Nelson Ekujumi, Executive Chairman, Committee for the Protection of Peoples Mandate (CPPM), said the fuel queues at petrol stations of Nigerians struggling to buy fuel across the country remain psychologically depressing and traumatising despite NNPC assurances and information that it has increased daily supplies from 30 million litres to 80 million litres.
“So if NNPC is claiming to be supplying more than twice the daily consumption requirement of the country, then why are there still queues that have turned petrol stations into a theatre of war?” he inquired.
NUPENG president, Comrade Igwe implored the government to quickly address the situation instead of trading blames when the depots are dry.
He called on the Federal government to implore the appropriate bodies to flood the nation with petroleum products as we enter the year 2018 as stop gap measure.
He advocated the need for the nation’s four refineries to be revamped with a view to reducing the pressure on foreign exchange for importation of petroleum products from abroad.
To Kanayo Fidelis, the government seems not ready to tell Nigerians the blunt truth about what underlies the excruciating fuel scarcity in the past few weeks so the citizens should be ready to bid farewell to the N145 per litre of fuel in 2017 and welcome a new pump price of the product next year.
Muda Yussuf, Director General of Lagos Chambers of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), is advocating for urgent need for the Federal government to liberalise the nation’s petroleum sector and create a robust private sector space for private investors to do business.
He told Sunday INDEPENDENT that the development is the best measure to free the nation from the current excruciating fuel scarcity in the last few weeks.
He frowned at the monopolistic right given to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation(NNPC)to import fuel,saying the model is fraught with inefficiency, transparency issues, perpetuation of culture of patronage and imposes a huge burden on the treasury of government.
He reasoned that a fundamental policy review is imperative and urgently needed to correct the anomaly.
Activists To The Rescue?
Nigerians have expressed sadness over the sudden silence of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and other civil liberty organisations to the lingering fuel crisis, saying they are too soft on the administration of Buhari unlike his predecessor..
Already, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), has implored Prof.Wole Soyinka, Adams Oshiomole, Femi Falana and other activists, who he said, were at the forefront of the 2012 fuel protests during the tenure of former President Goodluck Jonathan to speak out against the present hardship being faced by Nigerians in respect of the current scarcity of fuel in the country.
Nigerians are waiting to see whether the Buhari’s government, who rose to power on the credentials of integrity and transparency would give them ‘a new year gift’ with a new pump price of fuel by January 1,2018 or resolve the lingering fuel crisis by this weekend. Nigerians and indeed the world are watching.
The post Fuel Scarcity: Anxiety As Nigerians Await Buhari’s ‘New Year Gift’ appeared first on Independent Nigeria.
Source: Daily Independent
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