By; SUNDAY ODE, Abuja
Minister of Petroleum Resources Dr. Ibe Kachikwu and petroleum marketers will on Wednesday hold a crucial meeting at the headquarters of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)Â to consider the re-involvement of private sector operators in the importation of petroleum products.The corporation currently imports 100 per cent of petroleum products in to the country as against an earlier arrangement of 60 to 40 per cent government, private sector participation.
This is as a result of the increase in the price of crude oil at the international market that skyrocketed the price of the refined products since October 2027.
Kachikwu spoke to State House Correspondents after the stakeholders adjourned the meeting convened by the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari at the Banquet Hall of the presidential villa aimed at addressing the crisis following the scarcity experienced during the yuletide season in the country.Kachikwu explained that President Muhammadu Buhari has given the go-ahead for the setting up of an ad-hoc committee after Tuesday’s meeting that will engage the Federal Government on the best way of bringing back oil marketers to begin to import products in order to meet the daily fuel consumption in the country.“We set up a committee which I will head, members included the GMD, most of the parastatals in the ministry, Deport And Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPMAN), Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) NOMAN, Labour unions, and we are to meet in my office tomorrow and dig deeper into this thing and find a long term solution.“This is a major concern that Nigerians should not be made to suffer, that Nigerians do not get through the kind of thing they went through this December. We want to find lasting solution and that is what the committee will come out with in the resolutions tomorrow.On President Buhari’s decision to punish erring marketers who he said had conspired to sabotage his governments efforts at making petrol available to Nigerians, the Minister said “the thing is even the Nigerians who have suffered will want to be sure that we find a lasting solution and find evidential basis upon which to punish people. This is a democratic government.”He said the Federal Government was yet to find any evidence against one single individual for sabotage. “I don’t have one yet if you have one I will like to have it,” Kachikwu noted.On whether indeed such people were blackmailers as described by the President during his nationwide broadcast, the minister said “I feel your pain, we share in those pains but we are going to find lasting solution. they are people who are culprits, they will be identified.“In fact the chief of staff instructed that specific names should be put on the table, those who have gone against the rule, done certain things that are against the book should be punished. But the greatest difficult in Nigeria is that people make allegations when you then ask for evidence even one, everybody now goes back into the safety nets.“You cannot prosecute except you have evidence, I’m 30 years old as a lawyer. So we will need to find that evidence, we will definitely punish those who were things that are wrong, but more fundamental and more importantly is that we want to find lasting solutions and we all want to work more collaboratively.Meanwhile, Depot and Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPMAN) on Tuesday absolved their members from hoarding petroleum products contrary to insinuations in the public domain.Fielding questions from the newsmen, the Chairman, Dapo Abiodun said the scarcity experienced by Nigerians was not a marketer-related problem.“There was no hoarding on the part of any marketer. Marketers are your brothers, they are Nigerian citizens, they are businessmen, no marketer makes money from hoarding petroleum products, our business is to take petrol and sell.“That the problem that you saw is not willful on the part of anyone, either NNPC or marketers. The situation from our point of view is that from January to December, the price of crude remained relatively stable following the hurricane Katrina in the month of September/ October, crude prices went up and marketers lost the ability to import and sell at N145 per liter.He explained that “since the price of crude is directly proportional to refined product, we could not import petrol and sell at N145 any more. And this business is a partnership between marketers and NNPC. Marketers bring in a certain volume and NNPC also brings in a certain volume.“In the past marketers bring in about 60% while NNPC brings about 35 to 40 per cent. But by the month of October marketers completely stopped importing because there no more subsidy so we can’t sell for profit so we have to stop importing. So the burden of importing 100% now fell on NNPC. So you can imagine a situation where NNPC was importing in part and marketers were importing in part and then suddenly NNPC begins to import 100%.“Coupled with the fact that in the months we called the ember months from October to December the consumption of petrol is highest in the country, so you now have what we called a double warning. NNPC is suddenly finding it difficult importing what they probably didn’t expect in terms of volume and the fact that Nigerians themselves are consuming more volume that they will normally consume in earlier months.“Couple with the fact that the countries that are surrounding us as a nation are all selling fuel at more than $1 per liter. $1 today is about N360. If you go to Cotonou, Ghana, Niger so is is not unlikely that some of our petrol is finding itself across the body to these countries.“All these are issues we believe amounted to what we saw in December but thankfully NNPC rose to the occasion, they stepped up import, stepped up supplies that situation has since normalized.Today’s meeting is to ensure that this does not happen again and this we are going to continue tomorrow in the committee that was set up under the chairmanship of the minister of state for petroleum to ensure that we find a long lasting and enduring solutions to this problem so that Nigerians will not have to go through this borrowing situation again.”Responding on the crisis of subsidy, he said “well, like I said to you there is no subsidy at the moment. The government in its wisdom has decided that the N145 cap will remain because of what they consider will be consequences on Nigerians.“This is a government of the people and they believe Nigerians should not be made to buy fuel for more than N145. So if that is to remain then we have to find other ways to manage the situation so that we will continue to sell fuel at N145.“As far as we are concern there is no subsidy in the budget, as far as we are concern marketers cannot import and sell at N145, so government has to find a way and ensure that marketers themselves importing alongside NNPC and still sell at N145. So when we meet with the minister tomorrow we will find solution to see who that can be sustained,” he said.Also speaking, BOT chairman of IPMAN Aminu Abdulkadir said the meeting today will afford the opprtunity to make full disclosure on ways of augmenting marketers shortfall so that they can come back to the business of fuel importation.“Because if marketers are in the business, nnpc will be augmented. Because hat has happened today is that because NNPC was left alone and it will not be easy for them to manage all the depots, the trucks, the stations. Because it will not be easy for them to manage them.“So its a business for all. Before this time NNPC was doing 60 and marketers were doing 40 per cent. In fact there was a time nnpc was doing 40 and matters 60 per cent. But today NNPC is zero,” he added.