LCCI decries recurrent fuel scarcity
The Lagos State Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has frowned at the continuing scarcity of premium motor spirit (fuel) across the country, and has called on the federal government to review its policy framework regarding the nation’s downstream petroleum sector. In a recent statement signed by the Director General, Mr. Muda Yusuf, the chamber stated that the fuel crisis of the past few weeks had once again underscored the need to urgently review the current policy framework for the petroleum downstream segment of the oil and gas industry.
According to it, the consequences of the current policy regime in the country’s petroleum sector had among other things engendered the recurring and protracted fuel scarcity, resulted in considerable loss of man-hours as a result of long fuel queues and associated traffic issues on the highways. The present policy situation, it added, had also raised transparency issues in the petroleum products supply chain, forcing the FG into financial commitment to subsidy payment, even at a time of dwindling government revenue and proliferation of black market for PMS, where the product sells at very exorbitant prices.
It said the current development was a big disincentive to private investment in the downstream sector, as enormous pressure is put on the foreign exchange market resulting from massive importation of petroleum products. Weak compliance with the regulated price of PMS in parts of the country, it said, was largely a symptom of much deeper problems and distortions in the petroleum products supply chain, adding that the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has been spending valuable time and energy fighting the symptoms of a problem, rather than addressing the fundamentals, situating the issues in a causative context. As a way forward, the chamber suggested that the government needs to urgently liberalize the downstream petroleum sector for unfettered private sector participation and investment, subject of course to an appropriate regulatory framework. There should be a level playing field for all operators, including the NNPC.
