Stemming The Fuel Crisis

After months of occasional fuel scarcity, the
situation has assumed a crisis dimension
in Nigeria as premium motor spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, has become largely unavailable and unaffordable across the country.
Contrary to the promise by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government to make petrol steadily available, and at N40.00 per litre, hapless Nigerians now struggle to buy the commodity at N300.00 per litre couple of days ago even in Port Harcourt.
The situation is gradually suffocating the economy as transportation and the energy needs of the business community suffer the effects of the scarcity. And coming at a time public power supply cannot be relied on makes the experience even more harrowing.
Sadly, stakeholders say government is yet to proffer different reasons for the situation. While the Federal Government says it had, on November 3, approved the sum of N413 billion for the payment of outstanding subsidy claims to oil marketers, the latter say they are yet to receive.
Another group, the oil sector workers posit that the current petrol scarcity across the country is caused by black market activities at the fuel depots. Even laughable is the proposition by the Minister of Petroleum that panic buying was the reason for the problem.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, had however assured oil importers of the payment of their subsidy claims as soon as the National Assembly approved the President’s extra-budgetary expenditures.
Kachikwu, who is also the Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) does not however, consider the delayed payment as reason for the lingering petrol scarcity in the country. While monitoring fuel stations in Abuja last month, the minister had said that the corporation had enough products in its facilities from local refining.
Giving the conflict in the understanding of what must have caused the scarcity, we fear that finding a solution may be difficult. But the position of the oil workers should be addressed to end the crisis because the economy is already in shambles and investors are discouraged.
For a government that was formed by persons who stood against the removal of fuel subsidy a few years back, there should be no difficulty in paying the importers. It also follows that depot operators should not be allowed to sell their products above approved prices.
During his monitoring tour, Kachikwu was said to have directed the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR to instantly punish any filling station owner hoarding petrol by selling off the entire product free to motorists while other stiff sanctions follow later.
This is a commendable measure, but The Tide thinks that fuel scarcity is not new in Nigeria and the Federal Government should have taken  more definite stand by now and addressed the recurring challenges of the downstream oil sector.
Surely, the risk fuel scarcity has put the economy cannot be excused. Even worse is the pain it has brought on the citizens which must be addressed quickly to avoid any unforeseen backlash. Apart from the plight of motorists and the travelling public, the consequent inability of the citizenry to power their generators is unacceptable.
The situation has also brought to the fore the persistence of one variant of corruption in the system. A situation where fuel stations will not have product and black market operators have enough to sell at high prices in front of such stations is an irony that should be eliminated.
For those in Rivers State, it has become a constant source of worry that most often, Rivers State that is the headquarters of the oil industry, is about the first to suffer scarcity and the last to recover. Infact, it is also the place where fuel is most expensive at any period of scarcity. This must be addressed now.
We still hold the present government to their electoral promise on the cost and availability of petrol in Nigeria. We expect urgent steps to be taken to save the economy and the suffering masses of the country.