The end to the lingering scarcity of Premium Motor Spirit, otherwise known as fuel, is not yet in sight as marketers and depot owners said the product may not be available till May.
This is contrary to the earlier pledge by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, that lingering fuel scarcity in the country would end on or before Thursday, April 7.
A source among the marketers hinted Punch in Lagos on Sunday that the situation on the ground did not give any hope that petrol would be readily available at filling stations this month.
According the source, only one of the three parking spaces at the Apapa Port was discharging fuel instead of the two vessels that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation had promised would discharge by last weekend.
The insider added that the vessel, which carried 21 million metric tonnes of petrol, berthed at the Apapa Port on Thursday and only commenced discharging its content on Saturday.
He explained, “The system is dislocated and even if the marketers decide to import now, it will take a minimum of 21 days for the fuel to come to Nigeria. The arrangement before now was for the marketers to import 60 per cent of the country’s petrol need, and the NNPC to bring in the balance.
“But the arrangement was changed midway for the NNPC to import 78 per cent, while the marketers were left with 22 per cent. However, the corporation lacks the capacity and facilities to do this well. It is doing less than 60 per of its allocation; so, I don’t know what magic it will perform to end the fuel scarcity by Thursday.”
Similarly, another marketer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, explained that before now, his firm was getting on the average four cargos of PMS per quarter, but that the number had been reduced to one cargo of 30 million metric tonnes, which translated into about 120 trucks to service over 3,000 retail outlets.
The Executive Secretary, Depots and Petroleum Products Marketers Association, Mr. Olufemi Adewole, said the NNPC had assured the marketers that foreign exchange would be provided for them through the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Adewole said, “As soon as that is released, our people will start importing. If our letters of credit are not backed by adequate foreign exchange, our international supplier will not oblige us. We are still owing them foreign exchange for deliveries made to us between September 2014 and December last year.
“Government has given us the naira, but we don’t have forex to pay them. Right now, what they have decided is that if we want to buy anything from them, we should bring forex. And the NNPC has assured us that they will give us. Once they give us forex, our suppliers will release cargos to us.”
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