Nigerians indeed consumers of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) otherwise known as petrol have to brace up for crushing hardships and sufferings following a revelation that scarcity of the product may persist till June 2019.
Expectedly, cost of transport fares would go up with spiraling inflationary effects on prices of goods and services to be borne by the teeming consumers and users. Of course, in Nigeria no price increase is reversed at any time.
Ibe Kachikwu, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources speaking in Abuja Thursday said the current fuel scarcity may persist till June 2019, when government and private refineries will fully come on stream.
Kachikwu who spoke when he appeared before the Senate committee on Petroleum Downstream, investigating the current fuel scarcity said until then, the people would have to manage until the completion of the ongoing repairs and construction of refineries.
The Minister, who was accompanied by the Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Maikanti Baru and other officials of his Ministry, revealed that the increase of crude oil in the international market usually affects the local market in Nigeria.
Kachikwu attributed the crisis to diversion of PMS products by independent marketers. He said some marketers diverted products to neighbouring countries.
On solutions, Kachikwu called for a special foreign exchange price modulation for independent marketers, plural price system, where independent marketers can sell PMS products at different prices, while NNPC outlets will sell at the official N145 per litre.
Kachikwu also called for a special tax consideration for independent oil marketers to reduce their financial burden. He said if the government adopts any of the three recommendations, the issue of fuel scarcity will be temporarily handled until refineries come on stream.
Kachikwu said: “What this country needs is to ensure that the refineries work. It is shameful that after more than 50 years, we still do not have working refineries. Selling crude is like selling raw agricultural materials. Once the private refineries start working, this scarcity issue will be behind us. Before we get there, we have 18 months to manage this problem.”
“On behalf of Buhari, I apologise for the difficulties Nigerians faced over the fuel scarcity suffered during the festive seasons. Our sympathies go the Nigerian people. I will not say much.
“All I can say is that there are lots of issues. The major players stopped importation because of the price difference in landing cost. Once that happened, NNPC started providing 100 per cent products to the local market.
“There are issues on ground. Some are due to non-payment. Whenever situations like this arise, other issues arise. People moved products to other countries and decided to hide the products. We had to move in and release these products.
