The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has said that there was no basis for the current scarcity and price increase of Premium Motor Spirits (PMS) across the country.
The PENGASSAN President, Mr Festus Osifo and its Secretary General, Mr Lumumba Okugbawa, in a statement, regretted the hardship that Nigerians were being subjected to as a result of the scarcity and price increase.
This came as our correspondent gathered that the 14-man steering committee on petroleum products supply and distribution management that was recently approved and constituted by the Federal Government to halt the prolonged scarcity of petrol, had not been inaugurated.
The committee, which has its Chairman as the President Muhammadu Buhari, was announced last week Tuesday by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva.
“The committee has not been inaugurated and it cannot start its work without proper inauguration. This is because its chairman has been travelling around lately,” an impeccable source at the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, who pleaded not to be named due to lack of authorisation, stated
The statement by PENGASSAN said that data made available to the union showed there was over 30 days PMS sufficiency in the country.
“We understand that the parameters imputed into the old Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency and now Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) template has since changed.
“This is because of some economic vagaries such as exchange rate fluctuation, vessel hiring cost and cost of AGO among others.
“However, there is no sufficient justification for petrol to be selling for such highly inflated price, thereby subjecting the masses to further difficulties,“ the statement said.
The duo urged the management of NMDPRA to compel all marketers and retailers to make the products available at the approved price.
They also called on the management to immediately mobiliseall its staff in various locations across the country to monitor compliance.
The leaders urged the management to revoke the licenses of any marketer who did not comply to serve as deterrent.
“Should this collusion go unchecked, we will not hesitate to partner with other stakeholders in ensuring that Nigerians are not further exploited“.
