Group Wants PPMC Boss, Oil Marketers Probed Over Sabotage
By Jones Ozu, Abuja

For trying to sabotage the federal government efforts in making petroleum products available to Nigerians, the Nigerians in Diaspora Monitoring Group has urged the minister of state for petroleum and NNPC GMD, Dr Ibe Kachikwu to immediately probe the managing director of the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC), Mrs. Esther Nnamdi Ogbue and some marketers.

Coordinator of the group, Philip Agbese in an electronic statement made available to journalists accused the PPMC boss of trying to undermine the federal government efforts. He said the probe becomes necessary to ensure stability and transparency in the sector

He said PPMC boss and her cohorts are yet to align themselves with the new thinking of the new administration.

He said, "we have noticed that the PPMC MD and his cohorts have been engaged in underhand dealings within the sector as saboteurs to cause hike in the availability of oil products.

The Nigerians in Diaspora Monitoring Group, also commended the Nigeria's minister of state and NNPC GMD, Dr Ibe Kachikwu on the plan to replace the oil swap deal with the Direct Sale-Direct-Purchase (DSDP) in March this year and also for the removal of subsidy.

Agbese said the minister has shown that he is not only courageous but has proven that he is the best man for the job.

He said, "This DSDP which re­places the crude oil swap initiative and the Offshore Processing Arrangement (OPA) will entrench transpar­ency into the crude oil for product trans­action in line with glob­al best practices.

"The initiative, like the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources has said, would save Nigeria a lot of money that would then go for other developmental projects. $I billion, is a lot of money that can finance a lot of capital projects."

On the removal of fuel subsidy, he said the Federal Government has no justification to retain the controversial fuel subsidy, arguing that the falling oil price and the attendant revenue shortfall have combined to make fuel subsidy absolutely uneconomical at this period of the nation’s history.

Agbese said the minister deserves commendation for his courage despite the pressure from corrupt beneficiaries of the subsidy regime.

Recall that the minister of state for petroleum resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu said yesterday that federal government will save $1billion annually, from the decision to scrap the oil swap deal.

Kachikwu, has disclosed that Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) will next month begin a new product import system of Direct-Sale–Direct-Purchase (DSDP).

The DSDP is to replace the controver­sial crude-for-products exchange arrange­ment popularly referred to as crude swap.

Nigeria Extractive Industries Transpar­ency Initiative (NEITI) reported last year that a whooping $966 million was lost by the country between 2009 and 2012 through the crude swap arrangement.