Marketers of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) under the auspices of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) have called for a review of the present arrangement that leaves the nation dependent on a single supplier for petrol.
This, they said, will address the perennial petrol scarcity in the country.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) is the country’s sole importer of PMS and currently has approval to spend at least N4 trillion on the payment of subsidy in 2022.
MOMAN Chairman, Olumide Adeosun, in a press address, said the present petrol scarcity is as a result of supply inadequacy in the last few weeks and distribution challenges created by the unavailability and continuous surge in international prices of Automotive Gas Oil (diesel).
He expressed fears that the current supply framework could not guarantee steady and consistent supplies to the country given the current state of government finances and unpredictable international supply shortages.
Adeosun lamented the steady decline in fuel supply in the country since May.
According to him, 438,800tonnes of PMS were delivered at Apapa in April, a volume that dropped in May to 213,000MT while in June, only 140,000MT were recorded, with another 64,000MT loading as of Tuesday.
Adeosun stated that there is a need for consistent supply for the queues to end, adding that the government has assured that 34 days’ worth of supply
He, therefore, recommended gradual price deregulation with targeted palliatives (through transport and agricultural subsidies) to the public to ease implementation.
He also called on the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and other relevant MDAs, to set up a task force to immediately focus on increasing diesel supply through accelerated initiatives to increase local modular refining capacity.
This move, he pointed out, would tackle the supply and distribution challenges.
The marketers also recommended phased rehabilitation of existing NNPC refineries to hasten the supply of middle distillates (AGO & ATK), adding that the full deregulation of the petroleum downstream sector and full implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 clearly remains the most viable long-term solution to the country’s supply and distribution challenges.
