Any Petrol Station Caught Selling Above The N87, Will Have Its Licence Revoked – FG Warns

The Federal Government yesterday

moved to enforce the regulated pump

price of petrol at N87 per litre days after

a biting scarcity, occasioned by the

disruption of the supply system, forced

price to rise as much as N500 per litre.

The Department of Petroleum Resources

(DPR), in a statement, warned filling

stations against selling above the

official pump price or risk being shut

down.

The DPR’s position came a day after a

deal by fuel marketers and the Federal

Government led to the restoration of

lifting the commodity, leading to the

easing of the fuel short age that

worsened in the last two weeks.

However, a former Governor of Abia

State, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, has considered

the deal between the marketers and

government as a short-term solution to

the frequent fuel shortage in Nigeria

and called on President Goodluck

Jonathan to urgently remove subsidy

before he hands over to the President-

elect, Major General Muhammadu

Buhari, on Friday.

This came as the Depot and Petroleum

Products Marketers Association

(DAPPMA), an association of marketers

and importers, disowned one of its

members, Capital Oil and Gas Limited,

for being “mischievous,” over claims

that the association was on strike, an

allegation, he claimed caused fuel

scarcity.

The DPR, in a statement by its Head

Public Affairs, Dorothy Bassey, tasked

Nigerians to report any marketer who

sells the product above the regulated

price to its officials or law enforcement

agents. “While the Department of

Petroleum Resources (DPR) is making

every effort to ensure that fuel is

available and reaches every part of the

nation, it is hereby emphasised that the

Federal Government has not increased

the price of fuel. “The price remains at

N87. Any station caught selling above

the stipulated price, will have its

licence revoked.

“No station should sell in jerry cans as

there is enough fuel and for safety

reasons. Any station caught dispensing

into jerry cans will be sealed. “We ask

that the public exercise caution and

cooperate with all guidelines and

processes for the safety of all,” it said.

However, in his reaction to the fuel

crisis, Kalu, while calling on the

president to float fuel price, said if

Jonathan should fail to stop the subsidy

regime, which has cost Nigerians over

N6.354 trillion in the last five years,

Buhari should implement it immediately

he is sworn in on Friday. Kalu, in a

statement yesterday, said: “The Federal

Government has spent N6.354 trillion as

subsidy on petroleum products in the

last five years, when President Goodluck

Jonathan assumed leadership of Nigeria.

Penultimate week, it paid N156 billion

to oil marketers, bringing total payment

to over N500 billion in five months,

including over N300 billion in two

instalments in December last year and

N31 billion in interest differentials

recently. “In 2010, a total of N673 billion

was paid on subsidy, rising significantly

to N1.3 trillion in 2011, before being

revised upwards to N2.19 trillion by the

Ministry of Finance, after arrears were

paid in 2012 for products consumption

in 2011.

“In 2012, the sum of N888 billion was

allocated to subsidise petroleum product

imports in the budget, but in December,

a supplementary budget of N161.6

billion for payment of arrears of fuel

subsidy was submitted by the president

and later approved by the National

Assembly. “By the following year, 2013,

the government earmarked N971 billion

for petroleum subsidy.

For 2014, the Federal Government again

budgeted N971.1 billion for payments of

subsidy, keeping it at the same level

with that of 2013. “Though, despite

insinuations and reports that there was

no provision for fuel subsidy in the

2015 budget, the Senate Committee

Chairman on Finance, Ahmed Makarfi,

cleared the air, saying that a total of

N100 billion was provided for as

subsidy for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS),

while N43 billion was approved for Dual

Purpose Kerosene for the 2015 fiscal

period. “You can imagine what the

N6.345 trillion spent on subsidy can be

used for in terms of infrastructural

development in this country.” According

to Kalu, it is high time Nigeria stopped

wasting public funds on subsidy, which

benefits only the rich. He described the

fuel subsidy regime as nothing but

fraud, which is only benefitting a few

people.

“The subsidy is not benefitting the poor

because the marketers smile to the bank

after collecting the full benefit on the

over 40 million litres of products (PMS

and DPK) consumed by Nigerians per

day, leaving a lopsided distribution

network, where not all Nigerians are

able to get the products at the regulated

price of N87 per litre. “In fact, a recent

study showed that it is only in Lagos

and a few urban centres that the

products are sold at regulated prices.

The larger chunk of the populace buys

the product still at exorbitant prices

despite subsidy.” Kalu, who lamented

the agony and suffering Nigerians who

voted Jonathan into power four years

ago have had to go through, said the

subsidy regime could not be sustained.

Besides, he urged the Jonathan

administration to stop playing politics

with the apparatus of government by

using it to intimidate and embarrass

innocent citizens. Rather, he said, such

agencies should be used to fight

corruption. “All these intimidation is

damaging a lot of serious business

people in this country.

The Economic and Financial Crimes

Commission (EFCC) knows who those

corrupt people are and where to get

them. How would a public officer wake

up one day and buy a house in Maitama

and hop on private jet every minute?

Nigeria should get serious,” he added.

Meanwhile, DAPPMA in a statement

yesterday by its Executive Secretary, Mr.

Olufemi Adewole, criticised Mr. Ifeanyi

Uba’s Capital Oil and Gas Industries for

its claim that marketers were on strike.

It said the company was being

mischievous as it “had been disqualified

from the Petroleum Support Fund (PSF)

scheme by the government regulatory

agency and does not import PMS

(petrol).”

“The company is not owed a kobo under

the ‘PSF scheme as they cannot make

any claim, hence they do not feel the

impact of non-payment of subsidy

reimbursements; instead, the company

stores petroleum products for NNPC/

PPMC under a ‘throughput

arrangement’ as do a few other

members of our association,” it added.

It was also learnt yesterday that the

outgoing government has agreed to pay

$800 million debt to fuel marketer to

resolve the fuel crisis crippling the

economy. The ABC News, in a report,

quoted an Independent Petroleum

Marketers Association of Nigeria

(IPMAN) source to have said that the

Coordinating Minister for the Economy

and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi

Okonjo-Iweala, agreed on Monday to

pay the marketers the $800 million.

There was no immediate statement from

the minister, who accused the suppliers

of holding Nigeria to ransom over the

disputed debt, bemoaning, “so much

fraud allegations and scams in this

business of oil marketing.”