The Major Marketers Association of Nigeria, MOMAN, has reaffirmed that openness and competitive fairness will guarantee a consistent and effective supply of petroleum products in the nation.
According to a statement MOMAN provided to Vanguard, imported goods must compete with locally refined goods to find a balance between the requirement for local refining and prices that are both competitively low and cost-effective for Nigerians in order to be sustainable.
In order to save the downstream industry, which has been in freefall due to a lack of investment to maintain, renew, and grow assets and facilities like refineries, pipelines, depots, trucks, and modern filling stations, a dialogue with the Nigerian people needs to start in order to identify, negotiate, and agree on these areas.
Because Nigerian institutions have long supported PMS, they are now less equipped to handle the current domestic energy crisis. Queues form at stations when there is a disruption in any element of the supply chain. To lessen this wasteful subsidy, our nation must start the price deregulation process. If the nation wants to impose a subsidy, it must be in sectors that are intended to aid those who need it, such as transportation and agriculture, in order to lower the inflation of food prices and create more jobs for Nigerians. We need to find a way to liberalize supply concurrently.
The absence of investments in the downstream sector, according to MOMAN, is a major factor in the ineffectiveness and high costs of fuel distribution. “With the refining margins at the current pump prices, neither the new refineries nor the renovated refineries will exist.
There are particular models, guidelines, rules, and norms designed to protect and sustain consumers of this type of energy and populations impacted by its supply chain. The exploration, production, refining, and distribution of crude oil and refined products is an international business with ebbs and flows.
“To appear to be concerned for its local inhabitants, the Nigerian government and industry must adopt these recognized standards for health, safety, environmental protection, and quality. Cutting corners would be negligent, unreliable, and unsustainable. To guarantee that we ramp up supply to our retail outlets and get back to business as usual as quickly as feasible, MOMAN continues to collaborate with other important stakeholders. We anticipate an increase in demand during the holiday season and are ready to operate our stations around-the-clock.
The statement read: “As usual, MOMAN is in full deregulation of the petroleum downstream sector in phases to cushion the impact of a rapid hike in PMS prices on the long-suffering, hard-working residents of Nigeria.”