President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered that “producers and providers” of adulterated petrol imported into the country must be held accountable.
The President issued the directive in a statement issued on Thursday by Garba Shehu, his senior special assistant on media and publicity.
On Wednesday night, however, the General Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) also said MRS, Oando, Emadeb Consortium, and Duke Oil, a subsidiary of NNPC, were the suppliers of the contaminated products.
According to the President, the persons involved must “be held accountable for substandard services and or products sold by them”.
The President also directed the relevant government agencies to “take every step in line with the laws of the country to ensure the respect and protection of consumers against market abuses and social injustices”.
“In a reaction to the issue of petroleum product shortages linked to the inadvertent supply of products of foreign origin into the Nigerian market, President Buhari said the protection of consumer interests is a priority of the present administration and is ready to take all necessary measures to protect consumers from hazardous products, loss or injuries from the consumption of substandard goods,” the statement reads in part.
“The President directed that in line with the law, service providers must make full disclosure of relevant information with respect to the consumption of their products and that dissatisfied consumers are entitled to a proper redress of their complaints.”
On Wednesday, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, said the federal government would investigate the supply of adulterated Premium Motor Spirit (petrol).
According to him, the decision to probe the incidence followed a briefing on the issue to President Muhammadu Buhari Tuesday, to get to the bottom of the matter.
Meanwhile, one week after detection of the off-spec petrol in some states of the federation, evacuation is yet to start.
This, FirstNews investigations revealed, is due mainly to huge volume of the product, logistics and costs to be borne in the process of moving it from depots and filling stations to designated points.
This has meanwhile narrowed the possibility of resolving the scarcity on time.
Findings showed that the bad product was still at the various depots and filling stations, thus delaying distribution and storage of new product coming into the nation.
This means that the current petrol shortage would linger for a while, as government and other stakeholders continue to work towards resolving all issues associated with the scarcity of fuel at filling stations.
The situation reportedly compelled a meeting of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Independent Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN) and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, Limited (NNPC) and other stakeholders in Lagos, on Thursday, to review the situation.
Consequently, three committees, namely, technical, commercial and steering, were set up to address the problem.
Chairman of MOMAN, Olumide Adeosun, who confirmed the establishment of the committees on the sidelines of the meeting, said: “We were aware of this and have been working to ensure that the product received was separated, so it does not contaminate others, leading to destruction of consumers’ engines.
“Yet, some bad cases were recorded, including the Ardova PLC case, which led to 136 reported cases of vehicle engines damaged.
“But, we have identified the quantum of the problems, traced the sources and know the vessels that discharged the products as well as the depots and filling stations involved.
“At the moment, we are working to restore normal operations. We are making sure that the clean product, which has been received into our system is pushed out to consumers immediately.”
It was reliably learned that the commercial committee has been mandated to visit the various depots and filling stations where the bad product is stored to quantify and ensure evacuation at approved costs, which would eventually be settled by government
Reacting to the importation of about 100 million litres of bad petrol, the NMDPRA noted that evacuation of the product had commenced, adding that it also has 20 days sufficiency volume to meet demand.
NMDPRA thus advised Nigerians against panic buying, as about 300 million litres of petrol was being discharged at the Apapa jetty.
Speaking during a stakeholders meeting, Chief Executive Officer, NMDPRA, Farouk Ahmed, said: “Today (yesterday), I am happy to say that loading is ongoing at various depots in the country, because we have been able to identify, isolate and quarantine the limited PMS that was affected by the methanol volume discovered.
“At the moment, six vessels ordered by the NNPC arrived the country in the last few days, carrying a total volume of 300 million litres. This is meant to close the gap created by those affected volumes of petrol we have withdrawn from the system.
“Today, we have about 20 days sufficiency of petrol in the country. Our ideal is to have 30 days volume level; because of concerns, we have to withdraw those vessels, which created this gap of 90 million litres to 20 days sufficiency.
“But with aggressive importation by the NNPC, this gap will be mitigated in the next few days, according to data obtained from the NNPC programme.
“Loading is ongoing in most of the depots that have confirmed one specification material, so there is no need to panic. Between now and tomorrow, the off-specification product will be cleared.
“Currently, there is a 39,000 metric tonnes, MT, vessel that is about to discharge at the Apapa Single Point Mooring, ASPM, and this vessel will be providing products to major oil marketers, including OVH, TotalEnergies, 11 Plc, Conoil and Ardova, according to loading programme received from MOMAN.
“So, once these vessels complete discharging and start pushing the products to marketers, I believe Lagos will be cleared of shortage. We have gotten that assurance from the marketers.
“Also, most of these vessels that are on ground will also be providing volumes to most of the key members of DAPMAN. Off course, we have smaller vessels loading these off-specification product, which our technical team are trying to address.”
FirstNews
