Despite the availability of Premium Motor Spirit,
PMS, also known as petrol, some filling stations in some parts of Lagos
continue to sell the product above federal government’s approved regulated pump
price of N97 per litre, investigation revealed.
Lagos and most parts of the South West and Abuja,
have always enjoyed buying petrol at the regulated pump price, while the rest
of the country continue to purchase the product at exorbitant prices depending
on the whims of the marketers.
The development is one of the reasons government is
pushing for the full deregulation of the downstream petroleum subsector, to
allow marker forces determine price as well as eliminate the endemic corruption
pervading the sector.
Notwithstanding the price paid by motorists, these
filling stations still display N97 on their meters as a disguise, but
coerceNigerians into paying between N110 and N200/litre depending on the
location of the station.
It was gathered that the practice in Lagos started
during the fuel scarcity that rocked the country in the first quarter of 2014,
when marketers sold petrol above the regulated pump price in the open market in
protest of the non-payment of subsidy claims by government. The major culprits
of these sharp practices, which also include under-dispensing and hoarding of
products, are the independent operators, as outlets of the Major Oil Marketers
Association, MOMAN, which include Total, Conoil, Mobil, MRS, and Forte Oil, still
sell petrol at N97/litre.
*Enforcing compliance
To check the malpracticesand enforce strict
compliance, the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR swung into action to
shut down some of the outlets in Lagos, and also threatened to have their
licences revoked.
Among the outlets sanctioned during a recent
routine inspection by DPR in Lagos was Rain Oil at Okota for under dispensing
of fuel. Feroselina Oil also at OkotaIsolo was penalisedfor hoarding of product
and selling above N97/litre.
Commenting on the exercise, DPR Lagos Zonal Head of
Operation, Mr. AdekunleSoyebo, said the objective of the exercise is to check
the hoarding, under-dispensing and selling above the official regulated price.
Despite the clamp down, many retail outlets are
undeterred but continue to sell above the regulated price. Among the outlets
are those located in Ojo, LASU-Iba Road, Badagry, Ikoroduareas of Lagos.
*Reasons for malpractices
Explaining why some petroleum outlets persist in
selling fuel above N97/litre, a depot official in Kirikiri who pleaded
anonymity, said before the approval of the Q2 importation allocation, some oil
marketers imported petrol at high international price.
As a result, he said marketers needed to recoup
their investment since the funds are borrowed, especially with the talk of the
removal of subsidy.
He asked, “Why won’t they sell above N97 when the
premium to import is high?The product is imported based on international price,
and this is why DPR is limited.
“The reason major marketers still sell at N97 is
because they have bulk purchase agreements with NNPC, and they can also load
from the Ejigbo Depot,” the source said.
Another source in the ApapaDepot argued that by
refusing to pay subsidy claims of those who genuinely imported petrol, the
federal government is not creating an enabling environment for importers and
marketers.
He criticized that government wanted to use the
excuse of products scarcity, “to sell the refineries to their cronies at
giveaway prices. “Nigerians should reject this type of blackmail, and
government should do the needful by encouraging local refining of the products
by carrying out Turn Around Maintained, TAM on the refineries while ensuring
that they have adequate supply of crude.
He also charged marketers to put “national interest
above personal interest ones by genuinely engaging in due process of products
importation instead fraudulent practices.”
To forestall a repeat of the recent acute fuel
scarcity caused by the late release of the Q1 2014 import allocation, the
Government has releasedtheQ2 allocations for NNPC and private Oil Marketing and
Trading (OM &T) companies.
The Q1 allocations, which ought to have been
released at the end of December 2013 or the beginning of January 2014, to
enable NNPC and marketers import products, was delayed till February 21, 2014,
causing months of scarcity and hardship for motorists and other users petrol.
Culled: http://www.vanguardngr.com/
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