By; RAYMOND TEDUNJAYE, Lagos
A civil society organization,
Centre for Social and Economic Rights (CSER) has condemned in strong terms the lingering fuel crisis resulting from the importation of off-spec fuel into the country and it’s attendant consequences resulting in psychological trauma, disruption and dislocation of social and economic life of Nigerians which is unacceptable.
The group in a statement issued in Lagos by it’s Executive Director Nelson Ekujumi, noted that this unexpected fuel crisis could have been averted if the regulatory and monitoring agencies in the oil industry had been alive to their responsibility.
It faulted the position of the GMD of NNPC to the House of Representatives committee on petroleum resources (Downstream) on 16th February 2022.
According to Nelson Ekujumi, “There is nowhere in the world where a product would be imported from outside a country and there won’t be inspection and regulatory agencies to carry out diligent inspection in ensuring that the product is standard compliant and so it wondered why that is not the case with imported fuel according to the assertion of the NNPC GMD”.
The civil society organization according to the press statement called on NNPC to immediately rejig it’s rules of engagement on imported fuel to avert a reoccurrence of this needles crisis until local refineries become fully functional and importation of petroleum products becomes a thing of the past in our chequered history as a country.
Agreeing with the NNPC GMD that methanol in fuel is part of it’s component and not contamination as falsely and erroneously reported on the matter in the public space, the Centre for Social and Economic Rights (CSER) is of the opinion that NNPC should be held solely responsible for the misleading information because it’s communication machinery with the Nigerian public is weak .
The group in a statement issued in Lagos by it’s Executive Director Nelson Ekujumi, noted that this unexpected fuel crisis could have been averted if the regulatory and monitoring agencies in the oil industry had been alive to their responsibility.
It faulted the position of the GMD of NNPC to the House of Representatives committee on petroleum resources (Downstream) on 16th February 2022.
According to Nelson Ekujumi, “There is nowhere in the world where a product would be imported from outside a country and there won’t be inspection and regulatory agencies to carry out diligent inspection in ensuring that the product is standard compliant and so it wondered why that is not the case with imported fuel according to the assertion of the NNPC GMD”.
The civil society organization according to the press statement called on NNPC to immediately rejig it’s rules of engagement on imported fuel to avert a reoccurrence of this needles crisis until local refineries become fully functional and importation of petroleum products becomes a thing of the past in our chequered history as a country.
Agreeing with the NNPC GMD that methanol in fuel is part of it’s component and not contamination as falsely and erroneously reported on the matter in the public space, the Centre for Social and Economic Rights (CSER) is of the opinion that NNPC should be held solely responsible for the misleading information because it’s communication machinery with the Nigerian public is weak .
This, he said created an avenue for all sorts of falsehood and misinformation to fuel the petrol crisis to the stage we are in, right now.
While commending the NNPC GMD for accepting responsibility for the unavoidable fuel crisis and apologizing to Nigerians, CSER called on the NNPC to ensure that the crisis is quickly brought to an end so that Nigerians can return to their normal life rather than the pitiable and scary war like scenarios at fuel stations across the country, as this is the only apology that would be acceptable and appreciated by long suffering Nigerians.
