AKINWALE ABOLUWADE
To address incessant fuel scarcity in the country, Dr. Babajide Agunbiade has urged the Federal Government to deregulate the downstream sector of the petroleum industry.
Agunbiade gave the advice in a statement which he personally signed and made available to journalists in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, saying that the agony of long queues and hike in pump price should have been averted.
He said that “I confirmed from a reliable source that petrol now sells for between N300 and N350 per liter against the official pump price of N185.
“We cannot continue with this situation, and the FG needs to act fast because it will affect a lot of people if we continue like this. The only alternative to this issue of fuel scarcity is deregulation of the downstream sector of the petroleum industry.”
According to the statement, deregulating the downstream sector would help in addressing incessant scarcity of the premium motor spirit otherwise called petrol.
It read that there is no doubt that Nigerians are suffering and smiling considering the hardship of fuel scarcity in the last few days.
It quoted Atóbaáse as saying that the deregulation of the downstream sector of the petroleum industry was necessary to tackle the problem, saying, “The objective is to boost proficiency in the industry via governance, statutory transformations, and vigorous business competition.
“The absolute authority of the Nigerian government in the industry and the incongruous valuing of oil commodities have made the industry unappealing to financiers to fund private refineries that will ensure adequate supply of petroleum and make reasonable profit on their investments owing to excessive regulation of the industry by the government.”
It lauded the National Assembly for passing the Petroleum Industry Bill 2021, stating that “The key objective of the PIB is to overhaul and transform the Nigerian oil and gas industry. However, the key question being asked is: will the PIB be the game changer for the industry at a time when major oil producers are seeking to transit to clean energy? Only time will tell.
“For the past 20 years, there have been various attempts at reforming the industry. However, none of these efforts yielded tangible result until the introduction of the Petroleum Industry Bill 2020.
“It is high time the Federal Government resolved the problem of PMS once and for all.”
