The downstream sector of the petroleum industry is replete with unethical activities. However the operators are now more than ever before determined to rid it off of those unwholesome activities. In this interview, Tunji Oyebanji, chairman Downstream, Lagos Chambers of Commerce and Industries (LCCI) and managing director 11plc explained to Olusola Bello, what steps the sector is taking in this direction.
Why do MOMAN want to professionalise the downstream at this point in time when the business is on the downward trend and with just one dominant player?
If you are not making money the excitement of introducing new things in the business will be reduced but our argument is that we are the oldest and most experienced in the this business of downstream. So we should take the lead in at least pointing the way forward. Hopefully at a time when the country finally determines it is ready for deregulations and to move forward then we can bring that experience to bear in providing direction for the best way for the industry.
Take for example the issue of safety in trucking. What is the proper standard for trucks that should be used in the industry? What kind of safety standard should be deployed, retail outlets? What is the quality of service rendered? So we want to take back our pride of place as being the group the government should come and meet when it wants to do something by asking us what the standard should be and so forth. This is part of the vision we are having in MOMAN.
We make no qualms that it is going to be tough in this environment where our margins have be reduced to a ridiculous level or barest minimum. However we would do what we can. But at least you know they say without a vision the people perish. Let us prepare the way so when the government goes that direction we are already there.
As you can see many people are falling by the way side now. These were marginal fringe players. Even though things are tough, the ones that are surviving up until now are those big and well-managed publicly quoted companies that are in the business that seem to be managing to weather the storm, though. It is all these experiences that we should bring to bear on the industry.
Some of those companies that came on an emergency basis because there were some quick money to be made, if they have started to imbibe some of our practices, be it governance, safety, control, quality, they may have been able to stand the test of time themselves. This is really what we want to do as MOMAN.
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We have allowed ourselves as MOMAN to be crowded out in the scheme of things, losing some degree of influence and recognition. We want to get back to that pride of place.
If the downstream is to be professionalised as you want it and you are now talking of MOMAN, what happens to independent marketers? How are you going to bring them to the scheme?
Ourselves as MOMAN, we believe that the era of seven sisters or supper majors and what have you are gone. You will notice now that even in our ownership structure in many cases, apart from Total that is still a multinational as it were, most other companies there ownership structure has changed over time. So we believe that our own organisation with time would have to change, and we would be bringing other people on board.
Some of other people have demonstrated that they want to grow in professional manner. This is not an exclusive club. So in future we would bring more people on board and then help those people to improve their standards, quality, making the experience that we have available to them so that overall the standard of the industry can be lifted as a whole.
Generally, how would you describe what is happening in the industry in terms of standard, safety and services to customers?
Well, I think that if you look at the newspapers you will see areas where the people are not happy with in terms of how we do things.
For instance trucking. The standard of the trucks on the road are below what is proper. This is an area I think we all need to have common front and needs to be addressed. So that the regrettable loss of lives that happens periodically is reduced.
Another thing is the quality of the fuel we are consuming. Is it really the best, is it what we should be consuming. Many countries across the World have passed legislations in terms of the quality, particularly of diesel that is sold or imported into their countries. This is something we all need to work on because I don’t see us as a country being committed to these new international standards. So again, there is another opportunity there.
Another area that we need to focus on is the service level at the retail outlets. Are people really being served optimally? If you buy a litre, are you getting really a litre of fuel?
At the end of the period what I would like to see is that when people come to our stations they would be sure of good quality service.
So we are driving these initiatives very hard to try and get all our members to raise their standards. The other thing I want to say is the issue of corporate governance. Our member companies are running a very transparent process with no scandals because they are following current principle of corporate governance. So it is something we would encourage our members whether old or new to adopt. These are the new areas I have observed in the industry and I think we need to work on.
We also are in an environment where we have one dominant operator, that is Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation NNPC. We need to reach out to NNPC because we cannot ignore a player of that size. We have to work together with them. If something is going to change in the industry they have to be part of it. Working with it as the most experienced organization is necessary if you want move the industry forward.
