By Adewole Kehinde
I went round some petrol stations on Monday afternoon in Abuja and found that some of the stations were shut against intending buyers, while others were besieged by motorcyclists, tricycle owners, as well as private and commercial drivers.
Since the assumption of office, the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mal Mele Kyari has always ensured that there is no hitch in the supply of petroleum products.
Even though there is speculation of an increase in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit, the NNPC Limited has continued to assure Nigerians that there is no plan to increase pump price of Premium Motor Spirit.
So I see no reason for the recent fuel scarcity because the NNPC Limited already has over 2.3 billion litres of Premium Motor Spirit in the country.
The available Premium Motor Spirit in the country will surely last for the Yuletide and beyond without any hitches even as the NNPC Limited continues to meet the demands of Nigerians.
Also, the issues about pricing at some depots have been resolved as the Federal Government has no plan to revise the pricing structure.
I still wondered why some persons would want to bring hardship upon their fellow Nigerians by sabotaging the efforts of the NNPC Limited at a critical time like this
I must commend the NNPC Limited for always assuring Nigerians that the Company has made adequate arrangements for adequate supply of petroleum products as these assurances give hope to private and commercial drivers, motorcyclists, tricycle owners and other users of the Premium Motor Spirit against panic buying.
I will recommend that the Regulatory body and the NNPC Limited need to discipline any marketer found guilty of creating the unnecessary artificial scarcity.
The festive period must be enjoyed by Nigerians without any hitches for sure.
On a final note, it is high time Nigerians must support the government on subsidy removal because we shouldn’t be spending so much subsidising petroleum products.
Nigeria as a country cannot afford to be spending a whopping above N1.027 as payment for the petrol under-recovery every year if we really want to be developed as a Nation.
Nigerians should know that the Petroleum Industry Act will enhance the Nigerian petroleum industry’s reputation, open the door to new investments, and ultimately strengthen its position to meet the world’s growing demand for energy.
The enactment of this legislation is especially timely as the investment outlook becomes clouded by efforts aimed at accelerating a lower-carbon future.
Furthermore, the Petroleum Industry Act will help harness Nigeria’s potential to achieve its programme of raising oil production to four million barrels per day and oil reserves to 40 billion barrels.
The Federal Government’s full deregulation of the downstream sector will, no doubt, be an incentive to private refiners and boost capacity utilization, as well as employment generation in the sector. Many believe the move is long overdue and will go a long way to freeing enormous resources into infrastructure development
The new pricing regime will ensure availability of products as marketers will now import products to their full capacity without government’s restriction in the form of import approval.
Adewole Kehinde is a Public Affairs Analyst based in Abuja and can be reached via 08166240846, 08123608662. E-mail: kennyadewole@gmail.com
