Oil marketers pledge to end queues nationwide
Queue at a petrol station
Oil marketers on Friday said they have dispatched 700 trucks of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), to Abuja as part of efforts to end fuel queues at filling stations nationwide.
This is contained in a communiqué issued at the end of a meeting they held in Abuja with the Federal Government and other stakeholders in oil and gas sector.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that the meeting was held to find lasting solution to the persistent queues at filling stations across the country.
In the communiqué signed by Mr Taiye Haruna, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the marketers agreed to begin to move products to all parts of the nation with immediate effect.
It stated that the meeting was tagged “Queue must go stakeholders’ platform.’’
It stated that Petroleum Products Marketing Company in conjunction with marketers, major and independent, have agreed to increase the level of supply to all retail outlets nationwide with immediate effect.
It also stated that the meeting also directed marketers to move 700 trucks of petrol to Abuja with immediate effect.
It noted that one of the major constraints to distribution was the logjam at Apapa –Oshodi expressway in Lagos.
“We have agreed to work with the Lagos State Government, Petrol Tanker Drivers (PTD) and NARTO to clear the logjam at Apapa.
“Currently we have over 2,000 trucks on that road waiting to take fuel at the depot.
“Trucks are at Apapa to load products but could not get product but we fashioned out modality to clear the logjam in conjunction with other stakeholders,” it stated.
The communiqué further stated that the measure would enable the marketers start loading and moving products out of the depot to the hinterland.
“We have enough stocks that can last for 23 days; also we agreed to set up the committee of stakeholders to monitor the loading and delivering of products nationwide.
“We have also agreed that efforts will be made to clear this long before the end of June”, the communiqué declared.
It further stated that the Petroleum Equalization Fund (PEF) would track all the trucks from Apapa using the Aquila project to avoid diversion of the products.
“DPR is to ensure that products are delivered and selling proceeds should not be more than N87 per litre.
“Government will not relent in their efforts to ensure that the challenge become a thing of the past.
“All stakeholders have agreed to clear the queue before the end of next week,” it stated.
According to the communiqué, it was also agreed that a task force comprising all stakeholders was being set up to look into the distribution of PMS nationwide.
The meeting was attended by Executive Secretary, Major Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mr Femi Olawore and Chief Lawson Obasi led Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN).
Others included Executive Secretary Depot & Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPPMA), Mr Femi Adewole; Mr George Osahon, Director, Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).
The rest were Executive Secretary, PEF, Mrs Asabe Ahmed; the Executive Secretary Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPRA) Mr Farouk Hamed and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) representative, Dr David Ige, GED Gas and Power.
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5 Comments
End the subsidy debacle by ending the regulated price. What good is a regulated N87/litre price when most people most of the time never get access to sufficient petrol at that price? Do that, and within a year the industry will sort itself out and you’ll actually get investment in the downstream/refining sector and end the importation chaos.
If it isn’t regulated, what will stop them from charging us a higher price down the road?
This awesome, magical thing will stop them from charging a permanently higher price down the road in an unregulated environment: competition! If there are no bottlenecks, no policy discretion, no import/distributor licenses, no black market, etc., then companies will want to establish regular supply routes and eventually buy refined products locally…and if some area is serviced by a petrol station charging too much, another firm will build one close by to compete. How often does anyone get N87 regularly now? Almost never… Market pricing will increase supply and increase investment. Period.
whoa what complete and total rubbish. you are asking the fox how best to protect and prevent the killing of the chicken. the marketers are the problem, yet you are asking them to help end the problem they created. at a time when most nigerian’s are complete pissed at marketer and are providing their support to ending the fuel scam, the govt should use this chance to put an end to this looting.
This is all we have gotten from the marketers – complaints, promises and pledges. None of this does Nigerians any good. In fact all it has done is cause us headaches. Maybe they’re the problem, not the subsidy.
We will review and take appropriate action.