[dropcap]D[/dropcap]on’t be fooled by anyone. How can this never ending fuel scarcity make sense?
Nigerians are unhappy about the situation. It makes doing business impossible and life a living hell. What explanation can anyone give for the continuous suffering being imposed on millions of Nigerians?
Investigations reveal that the ongoing hardship in the nation due to the persistent fuel queues is primarily caused by the PPMC leadership. PPMC a subsidiary of NNPC thrust with the responsibility to distribute fuel imported by NNPC.
The Executive Director Commercial revealed that contrary to speculations wherein PPMC is said not to be importing, a total of 24 cargoes in Jan and 25 cargoes in February were imported this was in addition product imported by independent marketers under the PPPRA scheme. We gather that these volumes are estimated to be 800,000MT to 1m MT per month and this stock is sufficient enough to quell occurrences of fuel queues.
However, to the amazement of sector participants, the MD and EDC of PPMC rather than focus on distributing the imported products to PPMC depots for IPMAN and MOMAN (Major Oil Marketers Association Nigeria) depots, continually issued allocations to a few selected private depots who have now held the country to ransom by not selling at the government regulated price of N86.50 but are selling at N105 and above. We have learnt that these private marketers do not own substantial retail networks. While MOMAN with over 40% of retail stations were left with no product to distribute.
Sources within the industry, said this administration is seen to support the increasing disregard for the government regulated price by these marketers. They state that with the level of incompetence displayed by the MD and EDC.
They have all wondered why the minister has not taken decisive actions against them as this will not be the first time their poor grasp of the distribution of oil and its support to the socio – economic balance in the country will cause untold hardship for Nigerians. There has been a call for a probe into how the product imported by NNPC has been distributed yet nothing has been done.
Sola Kuti (SK) is a new age politician, a serial entrepreneur and social justice crusader with a passion for children. He has been a member of the PDP for 12 years. Connect with him on Facebook.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
