Capt. Emmanuel Iheanacho, oil and gas merchant, has accused Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation of causing the current fuel scarcity as a result of its monopoly of the product. He said that the inability of NNPC to create a window for private importers to import petrol contributed to the scarcity.
Meanwhile Nigerians have called on President Muhammadu Buhari to deal decisively with those responsible for the current scarcity of petrol. Some of the Nigerians who took to their twitter handles prayed the President to punish those who by their actions or inaction, caused the ongoing scarcity. Replying to a Christmas Day message from President Muhammadu Buhari on his twitter handle @MBuhari, some of them particularly called on the President to sack any of his appointees responsible for the ongoing hardship. President Buhari had on Christmas day wrote on his handle: “I wish all Nigerians Happy Christmas celebrations.
“As I noted yesterday, the fuel scarcity that has caused many of you to spend this period on fuel queues is deeply regretted.All relevant agencies of Government are working round-the-clock to bring relief to you.”
According to Iheanacho the current shortage in fuel importation gap was caused by the landing cost margin of N171 per litre and the selling cost pegged at N 145 per litre. Iheanacho said that it was not realistic for marketers to import and sell at that rate. “The selling of the product at N145 per litre is no longer feasible with the current exchange rate. Shortage of foreign exchange and increase in crude prices have made it unprofitable to import petrol and sell same at N145 per litre. The problem is that importation of petrol is being handled, almost 100 per cent, by NNPC, while private importers backed out because the increase in crude price has made the landing cost high,” he said.
Iheanacho said that the marketers’ huge debts of over N800 billion had also contributed to their inability to import petrol. He said that most independent marketers had closed their companies due to inability to pay their workers. Iheanacho urged the Federal Government to settle all the outstanding debts owed marketers since 2015. According to him, commercial banks have started taken over the property and tank farms of some companies that could not pay back their loans.
