Who should take the blame for fuel scarcity?

The on-going fuel scarcity across Nigeria is really a disappointing surprise though it’s a rite that is not new to us. Recall that early last month, NNPC spokesman, UduUghamadu, on behalf of NNPC, assured Nigerians that there would be enough and steady supply of petroleum during and beyond the Christmas and New Year celebration. Now, the duo has not even reached and the fuel is already scarce. In my opinion, the management of NNPC and the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, IbeKachiwu, should be blamed for the scarcity. However, IbeKachiwu tried to defend that four vessels laden with petroleum products would berth in a few days and a total of 20 cargoes are also expected with petroleum products. But the reoccurring question is why will they always wait till there is scarcity of the commodity before making appropriate arrangements? What happens to planning?

The duty of every government whether in Nigeria or elsewhere is to make life easy for all and sundry regardless of the class of the citizen. The failure of the government stems from the fact that our refineries are not functioning and how then can we give what we don’t have? Our refineries should be repaired by the government before the marketers can be blamed because the government is putting the blame on Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN).

 

 

 

 

The scarcity is artificial and basically for selfish financial gains and nothing more. It is caused by the Independent Marketers, filling station owners because of the season, to make extra gains. It is not the fault of the Federal Government, so I don’t see why Nigerians should blame the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources.

 

 

 

 

 

I put the blame on the Federal Government. There are two things that the government failed to do. They failed to refined petroleum products within the country and make adequate preparation for high demand during the yuletide season.What the government failed to understand is that every responsible countrytake care of their needs first before other considerations. Also, some of these countries do not depend on petroleum alone,they also use gas during winter season.

 

 

 

 

The rate at which the fuel scarcity has caused motorists in my town is nothing to write home about. I blame petroleum marketers of hoarding petroleum product in anticipation for a jack up in the price. These marketers are not being fair to motorists.They have the product in abundance and decided to hoard it for selfish reasons. I think they are creating artificial scarcity purposely to increase price as we approach the yuletide.

 

 

 

 

Categorically speaking, I will say no one is to take the blame. According to related sources, the present situation on the fuel scarcity issue is beyond a single party or organisation as so many factors are responsible for this scarcity. From a broader perspective, presently, the price of crude oil per barrel has increased to about $58 per barrel all over the world according to the last statistics. With this factor, so many independent marketers’ find it difficult to meet up with the present outsourcing which will affect stability of oil price in the country. Although, this problem is more of internal than external. As at now, many marketers are now hoarding their oil with a lot of factors affecting their businesses at large. The present situation still needs to be rectified by the FG, NNPC and the oil marketers. Evidently speaking, the situational awareness of the gridlock caused by the tankers on the Apapa Road is nothing to write home about.This alone affects the operations of fuel supplies across the country. I think in a bid to ensure that everything is fixed up, everyone needs to shift grounds and rectify what is expected of them to address this challenges. We all are aware of the challenges posed by NNPC’s leadership structure. So, I think every party is to take the blame. The FG has a role to play, with Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) likewise theIndependent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (lPMAN).

The NNPC officials are to be blamed because they are collaborating with the private depot owners to create artificial scarcity. They give the products to them. The private depot owners in turn sell to middlemen in bulk, who will later sell to independent marketers at N143 per litre. They are hiding behind these marketers to defraud us. They said they gave the product to private depot owners at N117 per litre. We expect they will sell to us at N133.38 per litre but they are not. But NNPC is not doing anything about it.

 

 

 

 

If I recall correctly, Buhari is the Minister for Petroleum Resources and he should be held responsible because of his archaic policies on forex and making NNPC the sole importer of petroleum products.Those are the major reasons there is unprecedented fuel scarcity. So Buhari wants be to Minister without taking responsibility for his actions in that sector? Then he must be joking because he cannot be President of the country and also be Minister at a time.

 

 

 

 

I blame the Federal Government for the fuel scarcity currently witnessed across the country. Marketers have shown commitment towards ending the scarcity but the Federal Government has not been serious about abiding with certain agreements reached. The fact that most oil marketers have stopped fuel importation into the country at the moment was because they do not have money to finance the import and this is because the Federal Government has refused to pay them. Also, the fact that most banks have stopped giving out credit to oil marketers to import fuel was because they have not been able to pay their debts to the banks due to the amount Federal Government is owing them.

 

 

I blame the President because he is the Minister of Petroleum Resources and during his campaign I remember vividly that he said his administration will make our refineries work again; prosecute the fuel subsidy thieves and end the scam called ‘fuel subsidy’ and that there will not be queues in our filling stations. The reverse is the case now, since he became the Minister of this sector.He ordered the search of oil in the North, costing Nigeria billions of naira, increased the price of fuel from N87 to N145. Similarly, the exchange rate that was between N170 to N190 is now between N360 to N363 under his administration.Our refineries are still not working. Also, according to the research I made, the Federal Government still pays subsidy and there are queues at fuel stations, even after increasing fuel price from N87 to N145. Till date, there hasn’t been any successful prosecution of any ‘oil subsidy thief’.

 

Government should be blamed because there is no rule binding the marketers. Unlike in Ghana where anybody can lift fuel and sell in uniform price but here in Nigeria majority of our oil lifter are politicians who are corrupt and influential to sabotage the effort of the government. I feel there should be concrete law binding all marketers, the so called Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) are not even effective because majority of them are corrupt too. Government should restructure the DPR and there should be an endorsement team across the state that would be going around on a daily basis to all filling stations to check if anyone of them is hoarding fuel.

 

 

I can’t say this is who to blame for fuel scarcity but I want the Federal Government to take immediate steps towards implementing its comprehensive project on the revitalization of refineries and depots across the country.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The blame should be placed on the Federal Government.Why is that it is only in December the issue of fuel scarcity comes up?The Minister of Petroleum, MuhammaduBuhari should be called to order.He needs to summon the NNPC, IPMAN and all others to see to the issue of the scarcity. There are still queues in other parts of the country which means this issue has not been addressed.This is the time where Nigerians should be planning on having a trouble free celebration but with this on ground. How do the government want her citizens to go about having a joyful celebration?

 

 

 

The Federal Government should be blamed for fuel scarcity going on in the country.If the government has put everything in place prior to this time, I don’t think Nigerians would be experiencing this because I can remember middle of this year, the President said an end would be placed on fuel subsidy and the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) will be reduced but reverse is the case now. It is high time, the president buckled up on this.

 

 

 

 

 

The government is responsible for this problem because if they bring enough oil into the country, there will be enough for distributors to sell out. It is so sad that we are one of the largest producers of oil, but we are still suffering from scarcity. I heard NNPC imports about 75 per cent of the oil we are consuming in the country and the remaining 25 percentage is for major marketers. What the government is trying to tackle still exist.Corruption is still in the oil industry. There is corruption and bribery at the oil depots.What the government needs to do is to find lasting solution to incessant fuel scarcity.

 

 

 

 

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