Dirty fuel importation: Matters arising

Most Nigerians are now coming to terms with the avoidable fuel crisis in town. The ugly trend first surfaced in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, but has now spread to major cities in the country. This distasteful incident is avoidable in the sense that the importers of the dirty fuel in question would not have brought in the compromised product, had the system and institutions governing the importation of fuel been impregnable.

Nigerian households and businesses use millions of litres of premium motor spirit (PMS) on a daily basis for powering their vehicles, and generators in a country that is currently putting everything in place to get power generation and distribution right.

Available reports suggest that this particular batch of contaminated fuel was brought in January. But it was able to evade the regulatory oversight of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

And ever since motorists raised alarm on the damage caused by the adulterated fuel, other than trading blames, no punitive measure has been taken to send clear signs to the parties involved that they have indeed crossed the red line of proprietary.

Those businesses and households whose vehicles were damaged, most of whom are already groaning under the rising inflation in the country, will have to forgo some important items in order to fix their vehicles

Premium motor spirit is the most used fuel in Nigeria, in view of the number of commercial and private cars that ply Nigerian roads and many households that are forced to use generators due to epileptic power supply. On average, Nigeria consumes about 57 million litres of PMS, 18 million litres of AGO, 3 million litres of ATK, and about 500,000 litres of LPFO daily. This consumption varies across the six geopolitical zones.

The North-West geopolitical zone consumes on average about 18 percent of the whole PMS utilised across the nation daily, 5 percent of ATK, 15 percent of AGO, 85 percent of LPFO, 15 percent of HHK, and 11 percent of LPG.

The North-Central geopolitical zone consumes about 18 percent of the nation’s PMS, 15 percent of AGO, 16 percent of ATK,14 percent of LPG, and 7 percent of HHK. The North-East consumption reflects the kind of upheaval it has experienced in recent years. This explains why it consumes about 7 percent of the nation’s PMS, 13 percent of LPFO,2 percent of HHK,5 percent of AGO, as well as 2 percent of LPG.

South-East uses 11 percent of PMS, 5 percent of ATK,7 percent of AGO, 23 percent of HHK, and 15 percent of LPG. South West uses 29 percent of the nation’s PMS, 65 percent of ATK, 41 percent of AGO, as well as 33 percent of the nation’s LPG. And south-south uses 16 percent of the nation’s PMS, 7 percent of ATK, 18 percent of AGO, 53 percent of HHK, and 24 percent of LPG.

Those businesses and households whose vehicles were damaged, most of whom are already groaning under the rising inflation in the country, will have to forgo some important items in order to fix their vehicles, especially if their operations will be greatly impaired if their vehicles are not in good shape.

It should be noted that a number of logistics companies sprang up across the nation in the last few years, to meet the needs of small and medium enterprises in Nigeria. The majority of these companies are affected by the lackluster attitude of the stakeholders that caused this imbroglio.

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Therefore, the burden on the NNPC is not only to ensure that imported fuel meet the required standards, all the victims of their compromise should be well compensated in order to soothe frayed nerves.

It is not enough for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the marketers to trade blames. Available evidence suggests that all of them are culpable. As the NNPC is the sole importer of refined crude oil, it means adequate measures to protect the interest of Nigerians were not put in place when the fuel was purchased, shipped, and accepted at the Nigerian ports.

The current fiasco has proved beyond doubt that Nigeria’s petroleum industry is full of shady deals where Nigerians are perpetually deprived of the benefits of the God-given natural resources. For the dirty fuel to have escaped the regulators in the country of origin, the Standard Organisation of Nigeria, NNPC quality control and assessment unit, speak volumes about negligence, omission, and commission.

Even if the culprits are sanctioned, which is what everyone expects, our weak government institutions mean the sanctions may not be punitive enough to deter them from playing the same tricks on Nigeria in the distant future. In any case, the agency to implement the sanctions may not be forthcoming.

By and large, the only lasting solution to the bankrupt policy called fuel importation is to make all the Nigerian refineries, optimally functioning. First, it is one of the promises made by the current administration led by President Muhammadu Buhari, and second, the recent injection of billions of dollars into these refineries in the name of rehabilitation has put the moral and governance burden on the president to ensure the revival of our comatose refineries.

And hopefully, when the Dangote refinery comes on stream, this will complement production from the existing refineries. Consequently, an oil-producing country like ours will be freed from the scourge, disgrace as well as contradiction of dirty fuel importation.