Fuel scarcity to linger for 18 months – Kachikwu

Youngrichlogistics.blogspot.com

The Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, on Thursday disclosed that it would take the next 18 months for the country to solve the problem fuel scarcity permanently.

Kachikwu however said the government has put various measures in place to address the issue of scarcity within the 18 months.

He said such issues include forex for marketers, repair of refineries and tax consideration for oil marketers .

The Minister, who appeared before the National Assembly Joint Committees on Petroleum, also added that its a shame that Nigeria cannot refine its crude oil after 40 years of activities in the downstream.

According to him, a Presidential committee has been set up to look for how to cushion the effect of higher price crude and lower price downstream sales at N145, adding: “It is 18 months plan before private refineries come into stream.”

Kachikwu added that Dangote and modular refineries are in the pipeline from 2019 and onward to solve the problem.

He said the ministry and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation were working round the clock to find a solution to petrol scarcity.

As part of the solutions to permanently end the scarcity, Kachikwu said the country’s refinery needed to be functional.

He added: “It is what I might call an emergency before the work that we are doing on the refineries that would be finished sometime in 2019.

“I want to remind that over two years we haven’t had queues.

“We are spending night and day to find solutions to nip this in the bud

“Ultimately what this country needs is to have its refineries working and I have said that it is shameful that after 30, 40 years of activities in the downstream, we cannot produce sufficient [petroleum products].

“I have said nobody sells crude in its form in the world and we have to have the technical capacity to do this.”

Kachikwu listed non-payment to marketers as one of the reasons for the scarcity.

The minister also expressed regrets that some people took advantage of the situation.

Also in his presentation, the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Maikanti Baru, enumerated reasons for the scarcity of fuel.

Baru said the situation is now under control.

According to him, part of the reasons for scarcity are the strike by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria on December 18, smuggling due mainly to price arbitrage, false threat of price hike by NNPC leading to hoarding, diversion and smuggling and insinuation of supply