The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has decried the persistent scarcity of Premium Motor Spirit (fuel), blaming it on the weak distribution network across the country.
This was disclosed by Festus Osifo, the president of PENGASSAN in Abuja, on Thursday at the PENGASSAN Energy and Labour Summit. According to him, Nigeria’s chain is outdated and insufficient to meet the demands of its large population.
Speaking on the need to open up importing channels, and NNPC’s role as the sole importer of refined petrol, Osifo noted that there is no country in the world as big as Nigeria that relies on a single point of product importation and uses trucks to distribute across the nation.
His words: “The distribution chain is weak in the downstream sector of the oil and gas industry. That is why today, you see queues in most of the stations. The problem may be solved today, but it will resurface tomorrow.
“Nigeria’s distribution chain is outdated and insufficient to meet the demands of its large population. There is no country in the world as big as Nigeria, with our population, that relies on a single point of product importation and uses trucks to distribute across the nation.”
He stressed the need for the government to reform the sector by strengthening the distribution channels to support the continuous distribution of petrol across the country.
Osifo also noted the high cost of producing petrol locally, which, according to him, is due to insecurity in oil and gas-rich zones. He added that in ensuring the security of oil and gas assets, investors were incurring more costs, pushing up their total cost of production.
He therefore tasked the government to ensure a strict penalty for those involved in oil theft, stating that this will serve as a tool to curb the menace in the country.
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