Key players in the country’s downstream sub-sector of the oil and gas industry are seeking access to foreign exchange at a rate that will be friendly to their bottom-line. They also expressed concerns over what they described as haphazard implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), especially, with regard to the withdrawal of petrol subsidy.
The marketers have accused the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) of tactically retaining monopoly of products importation to swing the market to its benefit.
To avert what may lead to another round of scarcity across the country, LEADERSHIP gathered that stakeholders in the industry are gathering in Abuja today to engage the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA to seek proper interpretation of licence issuance with regard to product import.
An impeccable industry source, who confided in our Correspondent, said the situation may lead to marketers rejecting NNPCL products if government refuses to fully liberate the market.
“If the PIA seeks to fully deregulate the market, then it would be ready to allow competition and create a level playing field. What we are asking is that government should not allow NNPCL to access foreign exchange at official exchange rate and expect independent or major marketers to source forex from the parallel market.
“Again, the issuance of import licence should not be the responsibility of the NNPCL, but the NMDPRA, whose responsibility it is to create all the needed opportunities for the market to thrive,” our source said.
Our source said the emergency gathering in Abuja will determine where the market will swing in the next few days.
The source said if marketers are denied forex and they discover that NNPCL products are higher than what it is signifying, then they will have no option but to reject the products.
The implication would be scarcity which will defeat the aim of the Act.
LEADERSHIP reports that, recently, President Bola Tinubu met with marketers in Abuja to discuss modalities for addressing challenges posed by the subsidy removal.
Addressing newsmen after the meeting, Mrs. Winifred Akpani, chairman of Depot and Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN), said the courtesy visit was to express the major oil marketers’ utmost support to the federal government.
