It is no longer news that during festive seasons, especially Christmas and New Year, motorists and other end users of petroleum products suffer untold hardship in getting the products due to scarcity and high cost. The reason is not farfetched. Some marketers of the products usually see the yuletide as a period to make money at all costs, thereby creating artificial scarcity of petroleum products. This has become an annual ritual. Thus, motorists and others to expressed fear that prices of petroleum products would increase before the yuletide.
It would be recalled that between 2015 and 2016, some marketers sold the products between N200 and N350 per liter, while others did not have at all. No doubt, scarcity of petrol during the yuletide often encourages the growth of Road Side Dealers, popularly called black marketers, who travel far distances to source for the products and when they succeed, they store them in cans in residential buildings and start selling gradually to motorists in bottles and gallons. This is very dangerous because motorists and other end users of petrol will not be sure of what they buy as there could be mixture of petrol, kerosene and gasoline.
All these are now history. It is on record that in the last quarter of 2018, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation repeatedly assured Nigerians that scarcity of petrol yuletide would never rear its ugly head this yuletide. To achieve this, the NNPC directed its downstream subsidiary, the Petroleum Products Marketing Company, PPMC, to ensure steady supply of petroleum products across the country during and after the festive period.
The Group Managing Director GMD of NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, who gave the directive when he inaugurated the Board of the PPMC at the NNPC towers in Abuja, assured Nigerians of a hitch free supply of petroleum products Nationwide during the period in question. Dr. Baru equally repeated the assurance in his New Year message to Nigerians. According to the Group Managing Director, in 2019, fuel station attendants would be in their pumps, inviting motorists to their stand for fueling. This is commendable because that is the fuel situation in developed economies.
In addition, the Corporation’s Group General Manager in charge of Public Affairs, Mr. Ndu Ughammadu, has repeatedly assured the public that there was no plan to increase prices at the ex-depot level and pump price in the yuletide and beyond. Although, there was a rift between the Independent Marketers Association of Nigeria and the Depot and Petroleum Marketers Association over discrepancies in ex-depot prices of petroleum products, Mr. Ughammadu said the ex-depot petrol price of one hundred and thirty-three point three-eight naira per litre and pump price of 143 and 145 naira per litre had not changed.
He assured the public that the corporation had enough stock of petroleum products to ensure seamless supply and distribution of products across the country, especially during the yuletide and beyond. He urged motorists and other road users of petroleum products to disregard trending rumours of an impending fuel price hike.
No doubt, the Nigerian economy is heavily dependent on the oil sector which, according to the World Bank, accounts for over ninety-five per cent of the export earnings and about eighty-five percent of government revenues. Currently, petroleum products are among the nation’s most important natural resources.
For petroleum products to be available therefore, all downstream stakeholders, including petroleum marketers and industry unions should cooperate in achieving zero fuel scarcity at all times. Motorists should not engage in panic buying or indulge in the dangerous practice of stocking petroleum products in cans at home. PPMC and NNPC Retail Limited should fully gear up to ensure that motorists continue to enjoy uninterrupted access to petrol throughout the nation. There should be no queues to avoid creating hardship for motorists and commuters.
Yes, the oil industry faces strong challenges. It is equally faced with environmental problems, including political unrest and vandalism. All and sundry, including members of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), should ensure that petroleum products are sold to motorists without reluctance.
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