₦airaland Forum

The oil marketers also told our correspondent that the current challenge they faced in the industry was how to sustain the improvement in the supply of petrol across the country.

They said they had started importing petrol as many oil majors and a few independent dealers were accessing the United States dollars, as promised by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu.

The Corporate Affairs Manager, Nipco Plc, a renowned oil marketing firm, Mr. Lawal Taofeeq, stated that the petrol subsidy issue must be managed properly by the government in order to ensure adequate sustenance of the present improvement in fuel supply across the country.

He noted that the marginal rise in the price of crude oil could force the government to review the pump price of petrol upwards, particularly should the government insist on not paying petrol subsidy to oil marketers.

Taofeeq said, “We’ve started importing products. But on sustenance, it depends on how the government handles the issue of subsidy. You know subsidy on petrol has returned and its management will go a long way in affecting fuel supply.

“Before, there was no subsidy on petrol. But now, considering the rise in crude oil price, there is subsidy despite the fact that the official pump price hasn’t been changed. So, if the subsidy issue is not managed properly, marketers may not want to import the product unless they are sure of their money.

“The government has been using the price modulation technique, and as crude oil price is going up, it will be adjusting the pump price of petrol. Any moment from now, there may be an upward review in the pump price of petrol to take care of the rise in the price of crude oil in the international market.”

Taofeeq stated that although petrol supply had improved considerably, some filling stations had yet to start getting the product seamlessly.

He said, “The level of supply has improved but you still find out that in some areas, not all the petrol stations dispense the product. All the stations cannot have fuel at the same time. For instance, on Ikorodu Road in Lagos, you still find queues in front of some petrol stations.

“This is because not all the outlets on this road are dispensing fuel as of today (Friday). The supply mechanism cannot take or get to all the stations in one day. Some may have to hold on for about four to five days before it gets to them. And when it gets to them, others may have exhausted their product. That is why you see queues in some places.”

The Executive Secretary, Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mr. Obafemi Olawore, stated that the NNPC had ensured that petrol dealers would get the product, adding that many marketers had also started importing the product.

On the measures so far put in place by oil marketers to stabilise and sustain supply, Olawore said, “That is the challenge all of us face now. The sustenance is now the issue but we will try to sustain it.”

When asked if marketers had started accessing forex for petrol importation, he said, “The issue is that they (government and the NNPC) have spoken with the upstream companies. These companies are helping some majors. And the NNPC, on its own, is helping some majors as well as other marketers.

“The NNPC has done a lot. Let us give it to them because they’ve truly done a lot. We have also been bringing in the product but majority of the vessels were brought in by the NNPC. That is why I say it is right for dealers and consumers to laud them this time around.”

Lagos – The Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun said on Thursday in Lagos that the N165 billion monthly salaries to federal civil servants was over-bloated and could no longer be sustained by government.


Mrs Kemi Adeosun, Minister of Finance, and Mr Sam Amuka, Publisher Vanguard Newspaper, during the meeting between Federal ministers and Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria, [NPAN], on Thursday 5-5-2016 at New Chinese Restaurant in Ikeja Lagos. PHOTO; Kehinde Gbadamosi
The minister spoke at a meeting with Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN) hosted by her counterpart in the Ministry of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.
Adeosun who was speaking on the economy reform agenda of the government, said that the N165 billion being paid to federal civil servants monthly represented 40 per cent of the total spending of government.

She said the figure was too high and government was pursuing aggressive measures to detect and prosecute ghost workers and other saboteurs in the system.

“We spend 165 billion every month on salaries and when I came in there was no checking.

“Now, we have created a unit assigned with the sole responsibility of checking the salaries and catching those behind the over bloated salaries,’’ she said.

Adeosun said that the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) introduced by the previous administration were faulty and sabotaged by the element benefitting from the salary fraud.

She said that many Federal Government establishments including the Police were yet to be captured in the system.

According to her, it is shocking that the Nigerian Railway Corporation which was not fully functioning still had 10,000 workers in its payroll serviced by government.

The minister assured that government would correct the anomalies in the payroll system and weed out all ghost workers in the service.

Adeosun said that the fiscal focus of the administration was to ensure an economic growth that would be measured on job creation and productive sectors.

“The economy is not measured by how many private jet we have but how many jobs we create

“People must be productive for the economy to grow.

“We have been a consumer economy, but we want to be productive and stop buying everything from abroad.

“We have been borrowing to pay salaries for years and that has to stop because it is not sustainable.

“Last year, we spent N64 billion on travelling and only N90 billion on roads. Travelling does not grow the economy and this must also stop,’’ she said.

The minister said that the compound GDP of the country had been growing negatively in the last 10 years and the administration was working to correct the trend.

She assured that the administration would be the most discipline government the country has ever had in terms of fiscal accountability and responsibility.

Also speaking at the meeting, the Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh said government would reposition the agricultural sector to become the mainstay of the economy.

“The ministry will give policy direction and coordination to make farming attractive and for people to practice it as business.

“Government will put policy in place to recover the 22 billion dollars which is floating out of the country’s resources to sustain farms in other countries back to our villages.

“Government will also ensure that bank review the two digits interest rate on loan to farmers and other productive sector.

“The change promised may appear to be slow, but it is actually taking place. In this year, we have harvested million tons of rice,’’ he said.

The Minister of Environment, Amina Mohammed said government would complete the clean-up of the Ogoni land in the next one year and ensure the degraded land was revived for productive purposes.

She said the Great Green Wall project of planting trees to control desert encroachment would also be given priority by the administration.