President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday intervened in the crisis rocking the nation’s oil and gas sector, prompting a stakeholders meeting in his office to interrogate the workings of the committee meant to implement the crude to naira sales to local refineries in the country.
Recall that despite additional hike in the retail price of fuel, also referred to as Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), few weeks ago, queues have also continued in parts of the country, prompting concerns from the citizens.
The president while presiding over a Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting recently, approved the sale of crude to refiners in naira, as a move to bridge the over dependence on forex.
Tinubu specifically met with President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote; Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) Mele Kyari; Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun; Chief Executives of NMDPRA, NUPRC, NIMASA, NPA, among others.
The president was reported to have sought clarifications from the committee members on some of the teething problems or obstacles militating against the successful implementation of sale of crude oil in naira to domestic refiners and the correlating sale of petroleum products in naira to end users.
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Edun, who gave a snippet of what transpired at the meeting reassured that the economy was picking up but at a slow pace.
He revealed that the market pricing of foreign exchange has set the economy on the path to industrialisation, because with private sector refining of crude oil, we now have raw materials, not just for agriculture, but for the industry.
Buttressing his point, he said the refinery is providing chemicals, for paints, for building materials for textiles, which he attributed as some of Mr. President’s strategy and policy of making conditions right for the private sector to invest, create jobs and grow the economy.
“His Excellency, Mr President, to review the implementation of his bold initiative, endorsed fully by the Federal Executive Council which approved the selling of crude to local refiners, who should then sell in naira to the Nigerian public.
“This initiative by Mr. President is made possible by the investment, courageous and bold investment, also of the Dangote Group, in a local refinery of 650,000 barrels per day refining capacity.
“To date, the implementation committee and the sub-committee have worked assiduously with all stakeholders, the regulators, NMDPRA, NUPRC, NIMASA, NNPC, NPA, the Navy and a host of other stakeholders to ensure that this important initiative is implemented, and it is being implemented as we speak, and what it has made possible is that now we have and what made it most possible is that we have market pricing of petroleum products.
“Relatedly, we have market pricing of foreign exchange that has set the economy on the path to industrialisation, because with private sector refining of crude oil, we now have raw materials, not just for agriculture, but for industry, for chemicals, for paints, for building materials, for textiles, and of course, this is Mr. President’s strategy and his policy of making conditions right for the private sector to invest, create jobs and grow the economy.
“Likewise, the market pricing of petroleum products has paved the way for NNPC to restore its balance sheet, restore its financial fortunes, and of course, to give the federation, state and local governments more funding in order to allow them to meet their obligations, salary payments to workers, social services to the population generally, and of course, key infrastructure development.
“The economy has been set well and truly on a path, although it’s early steps, and there is much to be done, but we can now see a clear path to industrial development for modernisation of the Nigerian economy, because the key prices are right, and it is encouraging private sector investment”.
Meanwhile, Chairman of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, revealed some of the intrigues causing persistent fuel scarcity in the country, despite hike in the product.
Dangote, who met with President Bola Tinubu alongside other key stakeholders in the oil and gas sector, claimed that over 500 million litres of fuel are currently stored in his tank farm, ready for the marketers or retailers to pick up and distribute to Nigerians but they are not coming forward to pick it up.
According to Dangote, his refinery has capacity to produce more than 30 million litres of fuel daily but since he is not in the business of retailing, the products cannot get to Nigerians who need it because the retailers are not coming to pick it.
He lamented that he is running at a loss by storing huge stocks of fuel in his tanks, while Nigerians are groaning in the streets without stocks.
Speaking to State House correspondents after the meeting, Dangote said, “Yes, we have enough supply of crude, we can actually produce much more than 30 million litres every day. At full capacity, we can even supply whatever is being consumed. But what I estimated as consumption, which I believe may be about 30, 32 million that one we can even start producing that by next week.
“It is not really an issue, because, as we speak today, we have 500 million litres, you know, in our tanks. So 500 million litres in our tanks even if there’s no production from anybody or no imports. This will take the country more than 12 days, you know, with no imports, with no production, nothing.
“So we are very ready. We are more than ready. And you know, I’m also putting my own name on the line by giving Mr. President my word that, yes, we will be able to supply the market minimum 30 million litres per day, and we’ll be ramping up. So we’re ready. We’re more than ready,” he told reporters.
But when asked the rationality of having millions of litres of fuel products in his tank farm that can last for 12 days, but the common man on the street has no access to the product easily, Dangote burst out saying, “Well, you know on the streets, one thing that you have to understand is that we are producers.
“I have a refinery. I’m not in the business of retail. If I’m in the business of retail then you hold me responsible. But what I’m saying is that the retailers should please come forward and pick, if they don’t, come forward and pick, what do you want me to do? That’s something that I can do. So I don’t expect either NNPC or the marketers to stop importing, they should come and pick because we have what they need.
“And you know, as they remove, I will be pumping. I don’t know whether you understand what it takes to keep half a billion litres inside our tank. It’s costing me money every day. If I will be able to collect the naira, I can actually charge somebody 32% in interest. So right now, that’s what I’m losing. And you are talking about 500 million, you know, I mean, we don’t print money. But the issue is that if they come and collect then you will not see any queues in the filling stations.
“We have what it takes for them to come and collect. We are not retailers. We also don’t have trucks to send. We have a factory, we have where they can load. If they come and pick the ones…and they have been doing that with importation. So if they’ve been doing that with importation, if it’s true, they are doing 55 million, I see no reason why they won’t come and collect our own and distribute”
