PHASE DEREGULATION OF DOWNSTREAM PANACEA TO FUEL SCARCITY– MAJOR OIL MARKETERS
Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria,MOMAN,said Federal Government shoud as a matter of urgency consider phase deregulation of the petroleum downstream sector, if it truly wants and end to fuel scarcity.
The call according to MOMAN became imperative to cushioning the effects of the impact of a sharp rise in fuel prices on the long-suffering, hardworking citizens of Nigeria,its chairman Oluwole Adeosun told newsmen at the fourth industry training organised for Energy Journalists in Lagos on Monday.
Speaking at a web training ,the Chairman said his members would eshew cutting corners in the ongoing fuel scarcity in the country, adding that MOMAN continues to work with other key stakeholders to ensure that it ramp up supplies to our retail sites and return to normalcy as soon as possible.
He added:”We envisage a rise in demand during the yuletide season and are prepared to work round the clock to keep our stations running”.
He spoke on subsidy regime in Nigeria,saying there was need for the country to begin the process of price deregulation to reduce this inefficient subsidy.
He said: If the country wishes to implement a subsidy, it must be in areas targeted to help those it should help such as in agriculture and transportation to reduce food price inflation and generate more jobs for Nigerians.In tandem, we must find a way to liberalize supply.We must bring transparency and competition into supply to ensure steadier,more efficient supply at optimum prices.
” Imported products must compete with locally
refined products to find a meeting point between the need for local refining and competitively low but cost
recovered prices for Nigerians for sustainability.The dialogue with the Nigerian people needs to begin to identify, negotiate and agree these areas and begin implementation to save the downstream industry which has been in degradation free fall due to a lack of investment to maintain, renew and grow assets and facilities such as refineries, pipelines, depots, trucks,and modern filling stations”
According to him,these lack of investments contribute in no small measure to fuel distribution inefficiencies and high costs. Neither the new refineries nor the refurbished refineries will survive with the refining margins at current pump prices.
He said the exploration, production, refining of crude oil and the distribution of refined products is an international business with ebbs and flows and has specific models, guidelines, rules,and norms designed to protect and sustain consumers of this type of energy and populations impacted by its supply
chain.
He advised that the government and the industry in Nigeria must demonstrably apply these accepted health, safety, environmental protection,and quality norms to be seen to care for its local populations.
In his remarks, Executive Secretary of MOMAN,Clement Isong,apologized to Nigerians over the lingering fuel crisis,adding that his members are desirous of cushion its debilitating effects on Nigerians.
He hinged that there is abundant fuel offshore,but lamented that Nigerians could not have access to same on account of infrastructure htches.
According to him,there was need for massive investment in infrastructure in order to put the country’s downstream sector in good shape.
