The Public Hearing on the sale and supply of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) in the country had a staggered start. Most of the critical stakeholders were unfortunately not in attendance, thereby in dereliction of their duty to come forward and render an account of their stewardship was handled with levity.
The representative of the Speaker of the House of Reps, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila expressed his disappointment with these vital organizations linked to the matter at hand and arrogantly failed to attend the hearing. These said organizations include the Central Bank of Nigeria, NNPC, and the Ministry of State for Petroleum Resources, amongst others.
He stated during the hearing, “ I want to make it very clear that it is not acceptable to the parliament, that people, organizations that are saddled with the responsibility of managing the critical sectors of the economy with such vital assignments like the distribution and accounting for the distribution and sale of PMS in this country, will be reluctant to come forward to render an account.”
The legislative hearing on the need to ascertain the actual daily consumption of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) in Nigeria took place at National Assembly on the 5th of July 2022, as a follow-up to the resolution of the House of Representatives at its sitting on Thursday 27th January 2022, which set up an ad-hoc committee to investigate the actual daily consumption of PMS in Nigeria and report back for legislative action.
The attention of the House of Representatives in the motion was drawn to the re-occurrence of fuel scarcity as well as the large sums of money being paid to various conglomerates, companies, and individuals as oil subsidies and the inaccuracy of data required for the supply and distribution of PMS.
This hearing aimed to take into account the fuel being distributed and consumed daily in Nigeria.
The aim is to interrogate and assess the value chain which, it is hoped, would be accounted for. Resultantly, various key stakeholders in the industry that are relevant to the hearing were invited to express their viewpoints on the matter.
In fairness to this HOR Committee, it demanded an overview of the entire situation and as such refused to restrict its interrogation to just the NNPC (The Nigerian National Petroleum Cooperation).
The organizations invited to the hearing are as follows. NNPC, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Ministry of Finance, Nigerian Customs, Nigerian Navy Rep, Nigeria Governors Forum, Central Bank of Nigeria, Petroleum Tech Development Fund, Nigerian Labor Congress, Petroleum and Product Marketing Company, Exports and Petroleum Market Association, Dangote Petroleum Refinery, Mayor Oil Markets Association of Nigeria, National Union, National Bureau of Statistics, Federal Road Safety Commission, Office of Accountant General, National Association of Road Transport Workers, Nigerian Association of Shippers and a few more organizations. Unfortunately, a few of the most critical stakeholders in this conversation ignored the invitation and thus were not in attendance at the hearing.
Nonetheless, those in attendance weighed in with their standpoint on the matter. The Nigeria Governors’ Forum, which happened to be one of the invitees has had several such consultative engagements with all the stakeholders mentioned above and had at different times sat down with the nation’s workers and other groups to look at the figures. They never added up.
Represented at the hearing by its Head of Legislative Liaison Hajiya Fatima Usman Katsina, the NGF warned that it stood solidly behind subsidy removal and that if things continued the way they are in some states, not all may be unable to pay salaries. This assertion raised the roof, but the truth has been told.
Hajiya Fatima derived her point from a two-year-old NGF committee report dubbed the Nasiru el-Rufai committee report which to date has not seen the light of day.
The report however, unraveled a myriad of bumpy and inexplicable items that the NNPC had presented repeatedly whenever the matter arose.
The Head, Legislative Liaison of the NGF also mentioned the non-remittance of proceeds of oil to the nation’s coffers by the NNPC. This, as at the time Hajiya Fatima made her submissions was hitting its sixth month.
In a conversation on the matter, the Director-General of the NGF, Mr. Asishana Bayo Okauru corroborated the NGF submission saying the NGF holds its credibility in very high esteem and nothing that is contained in what Hajiya Fatima read is untrue.
In fact, he added the Governors have always lent their weight behind the non-payment of subsidies. That put paid to the argument that the NGF was letting the cat out of the bag prematurely.
By the end of the hearing, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) made a list of specific requests to the relevant organizations to which they had to respond which will be followed by a ruling from the committee in the near future.
The IPMAN’s request included Pricing template for PMS published since 2015 to date and justify reasons for those price increases; List of all depots and tank farms and their capacity; all fuel stations and storage facilities capacity, including record of sales from 2015 to date, Records of sales of PMS from all depots and tank farms since 2015 to date and records of all PMS imported and evidence of inspection certificates.
The committee and invited organizations will reconvene at a date to be decided, after all, requests have been met and communicated. The Committee also stated its interest in working with the NGF and the invaluable input of the Governors moving forward.
It is our prayer that Nigerians can benefit from the bounty that God has blessed our nation with and that Nigerians can enjoy the special privileges of being members of an oil-producing nation.
By Isioma Ononye,
Social Media Officer