INEC is planning a high-level meeting with NNPC on fuel scarcity

The country has been grappling with long-standing gasoline scarcity, which has been attributed to insufficient supplies of the product from the NNPCL, the sole importer of Premium Motor Spirit.

Festus Okoye, the national commissioner and chair of the Information and Voter Education Commission, INEC, told Sunday PUNCH Friday that the commission was prepared to sort out logistics issues ahead of the polls.

Okoye said: “The problem related to logistics, we are going to solve it. We are going to have a high level meeting with the NNPCL to resolve any issues or challenges we have.

“We will solve the problems based on our own processes and procedures. We have things under control.”

In a similar vein, National Secretary of the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria, Yusuf Adeniyi, stated that the fuel shortage would not affect members’ task in transferring election materials on Election Day.

He assured that RTEAN, one of the transport unions that signed a memorandum of understanding with INEC on election logistics, will carry out its mandate as expected.

“You see, the fuel scarcity issue will not affect the election. The fact remains that we are dealing with a fuel shortage; however, I think it’s not real. It’s artificial. Yes, we are transporters and our vehicles are on the road. The issue of moving election materials will be dealt with. I don’t see a problem with it,” Adeniyi said.

Asked if there was any arrangement between the association and the NNPCL to fuel the drivers, the secretary noted: “Even before (the scarcity) there was no special provision regarding the movement of transporters in Nigeria or how the transporters their own fuel. We source fuel from the same market as private individuals, and in some cases we source it from the black market. Those hoarding the fuel let them continue hoarding.”

An aide to the president of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the body had made alternative plans to meet the challenge of fuel scarcity, and assured the situation would not affect the handover of election materials.

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He said: “This is probably one of the very few situations where we have this kind of fuel distribution problem and a little bit of scarcity, but that doesn’t mean we haven’t made good arrangements before.

“When you’re dealing with extension services as special services for the public, there’s usually a plan ‘B’ on the ground. So I don’t think there will be any problems at all in transferring election material. We had a tripartite agreement with INEC, the NURTW and every other body related to the election; so I don’t think there will be a problem.”

Marketers reject panel

Meanwhile, oil marketers on Friday kicked the 14-member Steering Committee on the Supply and Distribution of Petroleum Products that was recently approved and put together by the federal government to end the long-standing gasoline scarcity.

Dealers under the auspices of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, and the Petroleum Retail Outlet Owners Association of Nigeria, questioned the commission’s ability to end the nationwide scarcity of PMS and associated queues at gas stations .

On Tuesday, the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources announced the establishment of a 14-member commission chaired by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to find a lasting solution to the disruptions in the supply and distribution of petroleum products .

It said the committee had Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Chief Timipre Sylva as deputy chair, adding that the team would ensure transparent and efficient supply and distribution of petroleum products.

The Ministry has appointed other members of the committee, including the Minister of Finance; Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum Resources; National Economic Adviser to the President; and Director General, Department of State Services.

The list also includes the Comptroller-General, Nigeria Customs Service; Chairman Committee on Economic and Financial Crimes; and Commander General, Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps.

The Chief Executive, NMDPRA; Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria; Group CEO, NNPC Limited; and Special Adviser (Special Duties) to the Secretary of State for Petroleum Resources were also listed as members of the committee, while the Technical Adviser (Midstream) to the Secretary of State for Petroleum Resources would serve as Secretary.

But oil marketers criticized the composition of the panel, as they told Sunday PUNCH that the committee lacked core players in the downstream industry and, as such, might fail to end the fuel scarcity.

The President, PETROAN, Billy Gillis-Harry stated, “This is Nigeria’s problem, that we always put round pegs in square holes. Who should provide more solutions, except us at the grassroots?

“We are the ones who know how the company should be able to work for the benefit of Nigerians. So if they set up a committee without any of us as critical stakeholders, I don’t know what level of success they intend to achieve.

Gillis-Harry advised the government to reconstitute the committee and stressed that in order to make progress effectively it should have representatives from the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN and PETROAN.

He said: “My advice is that they should ask PETROAN, MOMAN, IPMAN and DAPPMAN as part of that committee to come up with solutions that are immediate and sustainable.

“We cannot continue to suffer this crisis in the downstream oil sector and getting the right composition on that committee will help address this issue.”

The National Public Relations Officer, IPMAN, Chief Ukadike Chinedu, who also spoke on this issue, wondered how the panel would succeed without the input of marketers as members.

He said: “IPMAN frowns on the composition of this 14 member committee. I wonder how that committee will carry out its mandate. IPMAN, MOMAN, PETROAN, NUPENG and other critical industry stakeholders are not part of this committee.

“We are expected to be part of this committee to allow some of the safety agencies and government parastatals included on the panel to help ensure that there is adequate distribution of petroleum products.

“We are stakeholders and players, and as you know, IPMAN makes up about 80 percent of the distribution channels in Nigeria. So if there is a committee, IPMAN and some other players are the key stakeholders that should be involved.”

Suppliers tired

However, Ukadike pointed out some of the reasons that are currently contributing to the scarcity of gasoline across the country.

He explained that some suppliers were getting tired of supplying products because a transition in government was about to take place.

He stated, “The importation of petroleum products is part of the government’s business and when the government goes out, marketers who also supply petroleum products sometimes get tired of supplying these products to the government.

“This is because they want to make sure that the money they invest in the supply of products is not captured or handed over to the incoming government because then many problems will arise.

“It’s also due to the fact that the current government has decided to scrap the petrol subsidy at the end of its term and marketers are cautiously watching how this will turn out.”

But the senior media and communications adviser to the state’s minister of petroleum resources, Horace Egua, told Sunday PUNCH the 14-member commission had not yet been inaugurated.

“The commission has yet to be installed and again, it is not just about setting a timeline for ending the fuel scarcity, but about solving the problems throughout the supply and distribution value chain,” he stated.

He pointed out that the panel’s terms of reference included ensuring national strategic inventory management, visibility on the rehabilitation program of the NNPC Limited refineries, and ensuring end-to-end tracking of petroleum products, especially PMS.

This, he added, was to establish the daily national consumption of PMS and eradicate smuggling, as the team would also ensure common sense in supply and distribution across the value chain.