Petroleum marketers in the downstream sector of the oil and gas industry have once again called for total deregulation of the all essential Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) in order to permanently put an end to its scarcity and make the product attractive for importers to import.
This is even as the Federal Government last week ordered the payment of the N150 billion being payment of the Petroleum Equalization Fund (PEF) owed petroleum marketers.
Speaking with Shipping Position Daily in Lagos last week, a marketer, Comrade Fidel Ose Aisuodionne stated that the major reason fuel crisis and fuel scarcity is recurring all over the country is because the Federal Government is still paying subsidy to marketers in form of Petroleum Equalization Fund.
Fidel noted that the N145 price of petrol is no longer acceptable for petroleum marketers, pointing out that diesel and kerosene are currently selling higher than petrol because the federal government has allowed importers to import the products and sell at their own price.
“To a large extent, the PMS is still being regulated, the subsidy is still there but I don't know which format it is taking, there is no way you can explain it, the cost of kerosene and diesel is higher and yet PMS is still compelled to sell at a lower rate, it is only to enable Nigerians get access to the product”
“The price of petroleum products is sky rocketing not necessarily because the product is scarce, since last year it has been a problem of FOREX, people want to import but they cannot have access to the dollars, the CBN has changed the policy statement of that severally”
“I would advocate that the PMS should be deregulated so that we can cry once and for all and get a stable platform; this is to say that if N145 per litter is no longer tenable and government is still finding a way to cushion the effect, it is penny wise, pound foolish”
“PMS is the only product that is yet to be deregulated, it is better there is full deregulation so that the price can adjust, get to a level and stabilize. But I think the fear of everybody is that because a lot of Nigerians depend on road transport, and about 75% of the vehicles taking people from one point to the other use fuel” Fidel stated.
Also arguing for the deregulation of the Premium Motor Spirit, an official of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) unit of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) Comrade Esan Bankole in a chat with Shipping Position Daily commended President Muhammadu Buhari for the government policy of 2016 which pegged the price of fuel at N145 per litre.
Comrade Esan however argued that there is need to deregulate the fuel, saying that the essence of deregulation is that it encourages the importers to buy and sell at their price. By so doing, he said the price of fuel would be more competitive and that the NNPC would also import and sell at a lesser price in her mega stations.
He said “it's like the step taken towards the last quarter of last year seems to be better than others taken in the past, it has given some marketers the leverage to bring in product not necessarily in the volume they used to bring but something reasonable and at a fairly regular intervals. However, marketers take the risk of doing this with a lot of apprehension, there is a kind of minor hoarding to determine what the dollar rate would be so that they don't run at a lost”
“This is why they stagger their price, it's like they try to compare the Naira value of the product with the present day value of the dollar.
“So, marketers would want to create artificial scarcity to build up a little pressure that would enable them stagger their price to gain” he added.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government has ordered the payment of the N150 billion PEF owed petroleum marketers.
The order followed a meeting between the Chief of Staff to the President, Mr Abba Kyari, and the stakeholders in the petroleum sector last week.
The money is understood to be subsidy on the cost of delivery of petroleum products across the country.
Briefing newsmen last week, National Secretary of Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, Zarma Mustapha, said the approval was with immediate effect.
He said: "The meeting had nothing to do with increase in petroleum pump prices. We looked into the issue of diesel and kerosene and as a matter of fact government is tackling the issues.
"The other issue is franchise, which is the petroleum equalisation fund which marketers are owed to the tune of about N150 billion and now the issue has been resolved. The government has directed that our money must be paid and I am assuring you that with the payment of this money, there is no cause for alarm."
"We are assuring our marketers that they should go back to their normal business as their outstanding will be paid in some few days."
Discussion about this post