Independent NG
Speaking at a web training for energy journalists,said his members would eshew cutting corners in the ongoing fuel scarcity in the country, adding that MOMAN continues to work with other key stakeholders to ensure that it ramp up supplies to our retail sites and return to normalcy as soon as possible.
He added:”We envisage a rise in demand during the yuletide season and are prepared to work round the clock to keep our stations running”.
He spoke on subsidy regime in Nigeria,saying there was need for the country to begin the process of price deregulation to reduce this inefficient subsidy.
He said: If the country wishes to implement a subsidy, it must be in areas targeted to help those it should help such as in agriculture and transportation to reduce food price inflation and generate more jobs for Nigerians.In tandem, we must find a way to liberalize supply.We must bring transparency and competition into supply to ensure steadier,more efficient supply at optimum prices.
“Imported products must compete with locally refined products to find a meeting point between the need for local refining and competitively low but cost recovered prices for Nigerians for sustainability. The dialogue with the Nigerian people needs to begin to identify, negotiate and agree these areas and begin implementation to save the downstream industry which has been in degradation free fall due to a lack of investment to maintain, renew and grow assets and facilities such as refineries, pipelines, depots, trucks, and modern filling stations.”
According to him, these lack of investments contribute in no small measure to fuel distribution inefficiencies and high costs. Neither the new refineries nor the refurbished refineries will survive with the refining margins at current pump prices.
