Even as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has embarked on a massive importation of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), major and independent petroleum marketers have continued to import PMS into the country despite the absence of subsidy in the 2016 budget.
The Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Authority (PPPRA) had recently given NNPC 78 per cent of the allotment to import fuel while the private importers who hitherto shipped in over 60 per cent of the allocation are now left with about 22 per cent of the total allocation.
The fuel imports were approved for all the five major oil marketers and 15 independent marketers. The allocations to five members of Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) were cut by about 70 per cent, while the NNPC allocation was jerked up from 40 to 78 per cent.
Contrary to expectations that the reduction in import allocation to private marketers of petroleum products and the breaches in Bonny-Okrika crude supply line to the Port Harcourt Refinery and the Escravos-Warri crude supply line to the Kaduna Refinery would lead to fuel scarcity in the country, investigations showed that the product is available all over the country.
Investigations further revealed that the availability of products all over the country though not being sold at the official price of N86.50k per litre as the price is higher in some states than the price approved by the Federal Government. It was learnt that though the Federal Government has approved a new petrol price, the average pump price is still well above N100 per litre.
Apart from Lagos and its environs where the product sells at the official price, a litre of petrol in Akwa Ibom, Imo, Anambra, Zamfara, Yobe, Kwara, Taraba and some other states is still as high as between N120 and N130.
Meanwhile, private petroleum product importers have continued to meet their 22 per cent allocation despite government’s silence on subsidy in 2016.
Although they have always complained about the non-payment of subsidy arrears as well as difficulty in sourcing foreign exchange for fuel importation, an investigation conducted revealed that the marketers have been importing fuel under the current circumstances.
Neither MOMAN nor Independent Petroleum Marketers (IPMAN) was willing to give reasons for the continued supply of PMS despite the uncertainty surrounding subsidy in 2016. But according to a marketer who pleaded anonymity, they have to continue to import to be in business as they are still making profit under the new pricing regime.
According to the source, with the landing
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