NUPENG And The Lingering Fuel Scarcity

A painful scenario that has intermittently punctuated the joyful moments of Nigerians particularly at this period of Yuletide is the recurring decimal of scarcity of petroleum products.

Recent reports have it that the price of premium motor spirit (PMS) popularly called petrol has gone to an all-time high of N150.00 per litre in Lagos State. In Rivers State a litre of petrol is now sold at N85.00 by major oil marketers.

 Regrettably, over 75 per cent of the petrol stations in most parts of the country have remained shut to consumers on the popular excuse of non – availability of the product, which are readily available at black market price of between N150.00 and N250 per litre.

Surprisingly, this acute scarcity is coming as the members of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) branch of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) have resumed lifting of product following the suspension of an earlier strike which began last Friday.  

Prior to the action of the Tanker drivers, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) had announced that it had about 29 cargoes of petroleum products to check the current fuel scarcity across the country. Yet motorists continued to queue for petrol at the filling stations.

Consequently, a statement by the Group General Manager, Public Affairs Division of the NNPC, Mr. Levi Ajuonuma called on all stakeholders on the petroleum product distribution chain to align with the efforts at ensuring effective and unimpeded distribution of products throughout the Yuletide season and beyond.

Ajuonuma blamed appearances of long queues at filling stations on some extraneous factors which include incessant strikes by workers in the industry and the illegal activities of product marketers who appear to have finally gone ahead of the Federal Government to commence a full blown deregulation of the downstream sector. This claim was also corroborated orated by the Minister of State for Petroleum Mr Odein Ajumogobia (SAN) in a chat with journalists in Abuja.

We are worried that among the glaring obstacles towards a successful celebration of the Yuletide season, is the presorting fuel scarcity which government insists is artificial but without ready solution. It is obvious that without adequate fuel supply, many Nigerians who love travelling at Yuletide would not find it easy to do so.

The situation will also be exploited by commercial motorists and even sellers of other goods and services to hike fares and prices of essential commodities to the detriment of the ordinary Nigerian.

The Tide urges the Federal Government to quickly wade into the situation with the view to restoring normalcy at the filling stations. If FG is bent on deregulating the sector, it must come up with a clear time table that must take into consideration the various palliative measures including the reactivation of the existing refineries. An acceptable time table of deregulation must not be abrupt, but should span through a considerable period of between 12 and 24 months during which the necessary preparations must have been made. A clear time table on deregulation will erase speculations and subsequently hoarding.

The Nigeria National Petroluem Corporation should also consider the immediate decentralisation of its distribution network. For example the mega stations sited at various state capitals could be replicated in other parts of the various states.

While this measures are being taken, we are equally of the opinion that the issue of improved minimum wage for the Nigerian Workers should be expressly considered so that the purchasing power of the average worker can be enhanced to meet the challenges of  a deregulated petroleum sector.