Hector Igbikiowubo, Yemie Adeoye and Tordue Salem
7 April 2008
Lagos — FRIDAY'S directive by President Umaru Yar'Adua to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the Department of Petroleum Resources and the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) to take urgent steps to end the current fuel scarcity in the country does not seem to have any effect yet as the situation degenerated at the weekend.
Many motorists spent their weekend on queues at filling stations to buy fuel. The fuel scarcity is also affecting commercial activities.
Vanguard gathered that the DPR had quarantined 13 vessels at the Lagos ports, insisting they cannot discharge their products because their ethanol content is higher than that of the one prescribed by the DPR.
Speaking on the development, Dr Levi Ajuonuma, Group General Manager in charge of NNPC Public Affairs Department, decried the delay caused by the DPR tests, noting that it runs contrary to a subsisting Presidential directive.
"President Umaru Yar'Adua had earlier given a directive to the DPR to allow vessels carrying products with ethanol content of between 1 and 5 per cent. Ethanol at 5 per cent is an octane booster - technically certified as good for cars on Nigerian roads.
This is part of the E-10 programme. That is Nigeria's renewable fuels programme which is set for launch soon," he said, adding: "We urge the DPR to come alive to its responsibility to the consuming public by ensuring that the product vessels are cleared expeditiously to avoid the seeming artificial scarcity and lengthy queues at the pumps."
The corporation also urged the DPR and security agencies to come down heavily on black market operators who have cashed in on the situation to make profits.
Dr. Ajuonuma said contrary to a newspaper report, it was not true that President Yar'Adua had banned the importation of petroleum products, adding that even if all the refineries in the country were working, they could not in any way meet domestic consumption requirement. "Therefore, there is the need to augment domestic production with imports," he said.
Meanwhile, the scarcity of petroleum products has continued to bite harder across the country. In Lagos, Vanguard gathered that most filling station are under lock for lack of products, while those still having products had their stations besieged by motorists anxious to buy fuel.
Most filling stations on Ikorodu road were seen dispensing fuel on Saturday, but a repeat check on them yesterday showed that they were already out of stock.
On the Apapa-Oshodi expressway, the few stations that were seen dispensing fuel were besieged by touts.
A supervisor in one of the Total filling stations along the highway, who spoke to Vanguard on the condition of anonymity said the station received 22,000 litres of petrol late last Friday and exhausted it on Saturday.
Reps Petroleum Committee intervenes
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives sub-committee on Petroleum Products Price Monitoring Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) has stepped into the fuel scarcity in the country to ensure the problem is sorted out.
Chairman of the Committee, Doris Uboh, said the committee would move to evacuate bad fuel containing high level of ethanol from the petroleum market.
The lawmaker advised "Nigerians to be patient and avoid panic buying as the agencies struggle to solve the problem."
She said in the course of her oversight of the agency, she discovered that some people outside the Federal Capital Territory were responsible for the present crisis, as they were purchasing and storing fuel to retail.
"We should avoid the panic. The long queues in Abuja is being caused by dealers outside the Federal Capital Territory who want to make more money and make people suffer.
"The PPMC has mobilised to evacuate the bad fuel. We will monitor them and ensure that the 13 vessels carrying the bad fuel are returned to their ports of origin and the companies involved monitored so that they don't bring it back to the country in disguise.
"We have not still solved the problem of fuel in the country. That the refineries have started working is not enough. But the capacity at which they are rolling out the products is still not enough.
"Our next problem with the refineries is that they have overstayed their Turn Around Time Maintenance time. We have to tackle and ensure that we do the TAM gradually. Some are as old as 10 years behind in TAM," she said.
The lawmaker also said since the Federal Government discovered that some companies deliberately brought in the bad products, they should not be left to go without heavy sanctions as a deterrent to others.
"Why must we fold our hands and allow such people or companies to take Nigeria for a ride. The agencies involved should not think that we are fools. It is dangerous for us and it is sad that Nigerians wants to use illicit means to make money at the detriment of our lives. That would not continue and we must rally round," she said.
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Reality will sooner or later show up because TRUTH IS PERENNIAL. Even if people refuse to call a spade a spade, there is no doubt that ' A SPADE IS A SPADE. Unless and until people are prepared to face the reality, progress will likely elude the country for the politicians are, under an atmosphere of very thick delusion, delibrately destroying the basis for the nation's progress. You cannot eat your cake and still have it!