Akwa Ibom people are groaning over the difficulties and the sky rocketing prices of items facing them as a result of buying Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) otherwise known as petrol above government-approved pump price of N145 a litre in the state for the past two months.
The fuel hike that started December last year nationwide has continued unabated as most petrol filling stations in the state sell between N190 and N200, while in the black market the product goes for N220 and N250 a litre restpectively in Uyo city and some rural areas.
StraightNews roving reporter visited such filling stations as Pirana Petroleum Ltd, Romaco Petroleum, Blue seal Petroleum, Petrosen and Matelbot Petroleum, among others in Uyo metropolis and discovered that they are selling at N190 a litre.
Most major marketers as Total Fina along Ikot Ekpene Road, Mobil Filling Station along Oron Road and Oando along Oron Road in the state capital have not opened their stations for sale to members of the public except a few customers who buy monthly lottery tickets, StraightNews has gathered.
Accordingly, transport fares to inter and intra-state routes in the state have risen by more than 30 per cent. Fares from Uyo to Ikot Ekpene, Oron and Ukanafun have risen astronomically while within Uyo municipality, a distance that attracted N30 before the hike now attracts N50 while that of N50 goes for N70, N100 and that of N100 goes for N150 and N200 depending on the location the passengers want to disembark.
Invesitigations by StraightNews reveal that the high fares tripled by the fuel hike have adversely jack up the prices of goods and services in the country.
For instance, prices of food items and commodities have hit the roof and the worst affected persons in this economic gamble are the jobless, poorly paid and the poor.
In an interview with StraightNews, Alice Udoh, fruits seller in Akpan Andem Market, Uyo decried the high cost of transport fares.
Udoh who comes from Essien Udim to sell her fruits in the market lamented that a distance she used to pay N300 now goes for N500, noting “The worst of it is that I usually have fruits worth N4,000. By the time you pay the fares and defray other incidentals, the profit is gone. As the bread winner, I find it difficult to send my children to any private nursery school.”
One Akpan Sunday, keke operator and a resident in Uyo bemoaned the high cost of petrol. “I used to N145 a litre and made profit. Now, I buy a litre of petrol N190 in the filling station in Uyo and N220 in the black market. How much do you make when most people do not have money to board you tricycle?”
Another respondent was Michael Etim, a state civil servant. “It is difficult to survive in this country and indeed in the state. As a graduate, I earn less than N50,000 monthly salary in the state civil service. From my residence in Osong Ama Estate in Uyo to the state secretariat, I spend N300 everyday. As a family, I spend modestly N20,000 on feeding. I do not include the school rusn for my two children, transport fare to church and other social activities. I pay N200,000 yearly for a two-bedroom flat. How much do I save yearly? Who do I achieve based on the meager salary I earn and that I get a paltry yearly salary increment? Life is rough.”
However, a petrol attendant at Pirana Petroleum Ltd along Nwaniba Road, Uyo who wanted to remain anonymous said “I sell at N190 based on the directive of my manager. If I sell less than that I have to repay the remaining.
Everday, I come from Nung Udo in Ibesikpo Asuan local government area to work in this station and go back. I am not well paid. I spend much of salary on transport fares and feeding. What do you do? Stay idle? Half bread is better none,” she confided in StraightNews.
On the fuel hike, StraightNews sought the opinion of Ubong Isong, the state chairman of Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, Akwa Ibom branch.
Speaking in a telephone interview, Isong observed that “The fuel hike is not peculiar to Akwa Ibom but is applicable to the states of the federation. The acute shortage is caused by non-payment of subsidy to marketers and they stopped importing the product.
“To a large extent, Nigeria depends on imported fuel. Our refineries cannot refine enough even for local consumption. So, we depend on imported product. Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) is now the sole importer of fuel, yet it cannot import enough to meet the increasing demands of the people.
“Many petroleum private petroleum depots and tank farms in Calabar, Cross River state capital are facing fuel shortage. They sell to marketers from Akwa Ibom between N167-N168 a litre. When marketers buy at that exorbitant price together with loading fee and transport fares, they cannot sell the product at government-approved price of N145.
“However, Akwa Ibom case is better in that you cannot see many hawkers standing at the roadside to sell at N250 a litre. The situation is worse in Calabar as hawkers are seen everywhere selling the product at N250 a litre. The problem is not caused by marketers in Akwa Ibom. We encourage marketers to buy at any rate, bring and sell to the people at affordable rate.
It is better than fuel scarcity and if it is not done so petrol would have been be sold at N350 or above a litre. In fact, some marketers go to Warri and Benin City to bring in the product for sale. Landing cost is N180 and N185 a litre depending on the depot the marketer buys and brings in for sale in the state”, Isong pointed out.
On the way out of the lingering fuel crisis, the IPMAN boss suggested “Let federal government build refineries in the country and allow them to function. Refine the product in the country. If the government does not want to be involved in the business, it can deregulate the petroleum downstream sector. Government can invite investors come in and build refineries.
“At the beginning, the competition will be stiff and prices would be high, but after a while the prices will go down. You remember when telecom service sub-sector was not deregulated and telecom companies were not allowed to come in. At that time, Sms for telephone used to cost between N20,000 and N30,000. After the sector was thrown open, sms crashed to N200 at with times could be given free to people.”
On the other hand, he opined “If government is unable to build refineries, let the petroleum sector be deregulated or opened up to allow many investors to come in and invest in the sector to force down the price of the product. To further curb the persistent poblem, I want government to increase the supply to 3.3 million or 33,000 litres about 100 trucks daily to cover the entire state on a daily basis. In fact, Uyo needs 10 trucks on a daily basis.”
In a telephone interview with StraightNews, Essien Esema, a Senior Special Assistant to the governor on Petroleum matters said “It is not the duty of the state government to make fuel available. But government through my office tries to monitor the supply of fuel to the state and ensure it is sold at government-approved pump price.
Esema, who is also the state chairman of Petroleum Price Marketing Committee (PPMC), posited that “The governor has been supporting and encouraging us to do the work to the benefit of the masses. Our task force ensures that all the petroleum products from Cross River State allocated to the state are not diverted to other states but are brought down here. When they reach here, we follow up to ensure they are sold at approved pump price and are not adulterated. We check against bunkering products; we check against hoarding and check against all forms of unwholesome practices.”
According to him, “We will go and force petrol filling stations to sell at approved price. I have personally supervised the sale of fuel in some filling stations that usually sell above the normal price. My surveillance team does the job particularly by arresting defaulting marketers or those with adulterated product and if needs be we destroy such. At times, we hand over the defaulters to some federal agencies to prosecute the defaulters.”
He noted that “We move around some stations and we cannot stand at one place because there more than 1,000 dispensing stations in the state and 40 functional ones. With our limited resources and facilities we cannot monitor all at ones.
We have arrested more than 50 defaulters bordering on over-pricing. Sometime, we arrest the pump price attendants. There is no legal instrument to prosecute defaulting marketers. It is Petroleum Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPRA) that is doing what we are doing and we are only complementing the department.”
The PPMC Chairman acknowledged “We have cordial working relationship with Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, Civil Defence and Security Agency and Nigerian National Petroleum Commission (NNPC). Akwa Ibom does experience total dryness as is happening in other states. Rather than not having, we ask marketers to bring in. Let there be fuel first before we think of how to selling it at a reasonable rate.”
On the fuel hike, he hinted “This is the reason IPMAN members are selling a bit above the normal pump price. The truth of the matter is that there is no product on the ground. It is not the fault of any state government. The product is 100 per cent imported into the country by NNPC and no state or person has a right to import fuel. You sell what NNPC gives you; you cannot sell what the corporation does not give you. We cannot afford to antagonize any federal agency, but we work hand in hand.
And if the cost of fuel as claimed now is landing now at N121 a litre, you have to figure out what is going on in the country and how much it should be sold. It is only the NNPC Mega stations and major marketers are able to sell at the approved pump price. I am sure that we have to force Mega filling stations, major marketers and some independent marketers who are able to lift at the approved rate of from NNPC depot to sell at government-approved price of N145.”
On the effort of his committee to checkmate the activities of profiteers of the product, he stated “We had stopped Oando in what they used to do. They used to divert by offloading their product to other dealers. If they got 33,000 litres, they would empty and sell 11,000 litres. In the night, they would take the remaining product and sell to dealers at a higher rate. The job I am doing is not an easy one. We have more than 600 stations in the state to monitor. Instead of locking the stations of defaulting marketers, we re-open but warn the managers to stop selling above the approved pump price.
Effrots to reach the zonal director of Department for Petroleum Resources in the state proved abortive as it was difficult to reach him on telephone.
Recall that in December last year, StraightNews had reported that the fuel scarcity might linger longer than expected as oil marketers had kicked against N145/litre the federal government proposed to them in Abuja.
The meeting involving the Federal Government, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Department of Petroleum Resources, Major Marketers Association of Nigeria, MOMAN, and Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, was deadlocked.
The marketers accused NNPC of it inability to single handedly meet the fuel consumption need of Nigerians as well as for removing subsidy usually paid to marketers to import fuel.
As a confirmation to this, Dapo Abiodun, Chairman of Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria, DAPPMA, told State House correspondents at the end of a meeting summoned by Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari to address the challenges of fuel scarcity been experienced in the country.
Abiodun said: “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 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 2 p.m. and the meeting just finished after three and half hours. “A lot of issues were raised and a committee was constituted that will be meeting tomorrow (today) under the chairmanship of the Minister of State, Petroleum to further ensure that these problems do not reoccur.
“From our point of view as marketers, we made our submission known to government and we emphasized 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 and sell at N145 per litre.
“In the past, marketers bring in about 60% while NNPC brings about 35 to 40 per cent. But by the month of October, marketers completely stopped importing because there was no more subsidy, so we can’t sell for profit and we have to stop importing. The burden of importing 100% now fell on NNPC.
“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 per cent. “NNPC is suddenly finding itself importing what they probably didn’t expect in terms of volume and the fact that Nigerians are consuming more volume that they will normally consume in earlier months.”
“Coupled with the fact that the countries that are surrounding us as a nation are all selling fuel at more than $1 per litre, $1 today is about N360. If you go to Cotonou, Ghana, Niger so it’s not unlikely that some of our petrol is finding itself across the border to these countries,” he bemoaned.
