SAN FRANCISCO, January 02, (THEWILL) – Oil marketers have declared that it is no longer profitable to sell premium motor spirit (PMS) better known as petrol at the rate of N145 per litre.
They made this known on Tuesday during a meeting with top government officials at the presidential villa in Abuja, presided over by Abba Kyari, Chief of Staff to the President, as the Presidency summoned critical stakeholders in the oil sector and the leadership of security agencies in the country to end the scarcity of petrol in the country.
In attendance were Permanent Secretary Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Folashade Yemi-Esan; Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu; Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr Maikanti Baru and the Director General, Department of State Services (DSS) Mr Lawal Daura.
Also in attendance are the Comptroller-General of Immigration, Muhammed Babandede; some presidential aides and other stakeholders in the oil industry.
Addressing journalists at the end of the meeting, Dapo Abiodun, Chairman of Depot and Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPMAN), spoke on the cause of the petrol scarcity.
“Today’s meeting was called at the instance of the chief of staff to the president and it was to find out exactly what happened, where we had the problems we had in December with the supply of petrol and how Nigerians were made to go through the pains and suffering,” he said.
“He wanted to know the truth and to ensure that going forward this problem will be solved once and for all. And that is why you saw that we sat in here from 2pm and the meeting just finished after three and half hours.
“A lot of issues were raised and a committee was constituted that will meeting tomorrow under the chairmanship of the Minister of petroleum to further go into the nitty-gritty and to ensure that these problems do not reoccur again.
“From our point of view as marketers, we made our submission known to government and we emphasised the fact that this was not a marketer-related problem. There was no hoarding on the part of any marketer.
“Marketers are your brothers, they are Nigerian citizens, they are businessmen, no marketer makes money from hoarding petroleum products, our business is to take petrol and sell.
“We explained that the problem that you saw is not willful on the part of anyone either NNPC or marketers.
“The situation, from our point of view, is that from January to December, the price of crude remained relatively stable. Following the Hurricane Katrina in the month of September, October, crude prices went up and marketers lost the ability to import any sell at N145 per liter.
“Since the price of crude is directly proportional to the refined product, we could not import petrol and sell at N145 anymore. And this business is a partnership between marketers and NNPC. Marketers being in a certain volume and NNPC also brings in a certain volume.
“In the past marketers bring in about 60% while NNPC brings about 35 to 40 percent. But by the month of October marketers completely stopped importing because there no more subsidy so we can’t sell for profit so we have to stop importing.
“So, the burden of importing 100% now fell on NNPC. So you can imagine a situation where NNPC was importing in part and marketers were importing in part and then suddenly NNPC begins to import 100%. Couple with the fact that in the months we called the ember months from October to December the consumption of petrol is highest in the country.
“So, you now have what we call a double warning. NNPC is suddenly finding its importing what they probably didn’t expect in terms of volume and the fact that Nigerians themselves are consuming more volume that they will normally consume in earlier months.
“Couple with the fact that the countries that are surrounding us as a nation are all selling fuel at more than $1 per liter. $1 today is about N360. If you go to Cotonou, Ghana, Niger so is is not unlikely that some of our petrol is finding itself across the border to these countries.
“All these are issues we believe amounted to what we saw in December but thankfully NNPC rose to the occasion, they stepped up import, stepped up supplies that situation has since normalized.”
Also, The President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Chinedu Okoronkwo, said the meeting reached a resolution that would see the fuel supply problem resolved once and for all.
They (government representatives) have also assured us that the refineries are coming on stream with installed capacities. This is good news,” he said.
On his part, Kachikwu said that there is no evidence that marketers are hoarding petroleum products and as such, there is no reason to punish them.
According to Kachikwu, the meeting was not a fault-finding one but meant to find a lasting solution to the problem of fuel scarcity and ensure that it does not recur as directed by President Muhammadu Buhari.
“This is a major concern that Nigerians should not be made to suffer, that Nigerians do not get through the kind of thing they went through this December,” the Minister told journalists at the end of the meeting.
“We want to find a lasting solution and that is what the committee will come out with in the resolutions tomorrow (Wednesday).
“The thing is even the Nigerians, who have suffered, will want to be sure that we find a lasting solution and find evidential basis upon which to punish people.
“This is a democratic government. I don’t have one (evidence) yet; if you have one, I will like to have it.”
Other members of the Kachikwu Committee are the Group Managing Director, NNPC, Maikanti Baru, most parastatals under the Ministry, IPMAN, DAPMAN and labour unions, among others.
