PEF monitors petrol distribution to check sharp practices

Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF), said it has commenced strict monitoring of Premium Motor Spirit (PSM), popularly called petrol across the country.

Speaking yesterday, in Abuja, at the one year anniversary of Valuechain Magazine, Lecture and Award, PEF Executive Secretary, Ahmed Bobboi, warned that there is no more hiding place for oil marketers, who are involved in sharp practices.He noted that automation of distribution system now helps to effectively monitor movements of petroleum products nationwide. He said the move has helped in stabilising products distribution and price equality in most parts of Nigeria.

“We monitor the movement of the product electronically so that when the products are loaded we know what quantity was loaded and the destination it is going to. When we get to the Depot, we also know the quantity that arrived safely, and then distributed to the marketers so that these marketers will also sell within their own method of operation and also at the appropriate price,” he said. 

In his address, Publisher of Valuechain Magazine, Musa Bashir Usman, said President Muhammadu Buhari and the stakeholders in the sector are yet to prioritise the challenges of the refineries and the weak regulatory requirements.He said these two aspects are critical to the development of the oil and gas Industry, saying: “Executive and the National Assembly must ensure the speedy passage of the PIB and put measures that will make our local refineries work.”

Usman lauded the new Group Managing Director (GMD), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mele Kolo Kyari, for admitting in his inaugural speech that the nation’s petroleum industry is not yet where it should be. Furthermore, he noted that two critical development issues in the sector – refineries, and Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), were yet to receive the deserved attention.