By Adedapo Adesanya
The House of Representatives is making moves that will allow other petroleum marketers to lift premium motor spirit (PMS) known as petrol directly from the Dangote Refinery.
The lower house referred the matter to a joint national assembly ad hoc committee.
The motion was raised by a motion by Mr Oboku Oforji, who argued that the coming on board of the Dangote Refinery, points Nigeria in the direction of self-sufficiency of PMS.
The lawmaker described the insistence of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited to be the sole lifter of PMS from Dangote Refinery as greed after it had failed to maintain the nation’s refineries.
“We must commend the Dangote Group and congratulate Nigerians as this is no mean feat because our country has been battling for decades with refining our crude without success.
“The House also note that by this feat, Nigeria is driving towards energy self-sufficiency, cost and foreign exchange savings, meeting the increasing demand for fuels, attraction of foreign capital investment, generation of forex through export of finished product, conservation of foreign exchange and huge value addition that will contribute to increase in Nigeria Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
“The House further note that because of the high demand by millions of Nigerians for PMS, and the ordeal they go through to get it, NNPCL should allow independent marketers to lift the product from the Dangote refinery.
“The House is cognizant that allowing Independent Marketers, Major Marketers, along with NNPCL to lift from the Dangote Refinery will lead to competition, availability of the product, hence reduction in the price of PMS.”
Mr Oboku had also asked the House to mandate that NNPC Limited reveal the price at which it sells crude to the hangover refinery, while the hangover refinery should reveal how much it sells PMS to NNPC Limited for transparency’s sake.
“The House is worried that NNPCL and the Major Marketers as exclusive off-takers, spells monopoly which is tantamount to greed. This is the same NNPCL that has failed to manage our crude and refineries for decades in the past.
“No wonder the late MKO Abiola of blessed memory, in a viral video, some years ago lamented that the NNPCL lacks transparency and accountability.
“The House is disturbed that allowing the NNPCL and Major Marketers to lift PMS from the refinery to the exclusion of Independent Marketers, is not good enough.
“The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria’s (IPMAN) representatives have expressed fears that it may be forced to resort to fuel imports to sustain their businesses.
“If this monopoly is not nipped in the bud, the suffering of Nigerians occasioned by the scarcity of PMS will continue and we all know the implication on the economy,” he noted.