The House of Representatives is unhappy over the lingering scarcity of petrol in the country and has asked the

Worried by lingering fuel scarcity in the country, the House of Representatives has asked Executive to submit a N800bn supplementary budget to the National Assembly to offset the debts allegedly owed fuel marketers.

 

According to the House Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream), offsetting the debts would end the scarcity, it was the right step to take by the Federal Government.

The Chairman of the committee, Mr. Joseph Akinlaja, who spoke in Abuja during the weekend said the House had come to the conclusion that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation could not handle the importation of petrol alone and successfully end the current scarcity.

Akinlaja noted that with the country’s four refineries producing little or nothing to augment the importation by the NNPC, the scarcity would continue because people would also continue to exploit loopholes in the distribution chain.

He said reports at the disposal of the committee suggested that the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association, Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association and the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria were collectively owed N800bn by the government for previous importation.

He added that as a result of the mounting debts, IPMAN, DAPMAN and MOMAN stopped importing products, leaving the NNPC alone to handle the challenge.

Akinlaja also stated that amid the scarcity, the fixing of the pump price of N145 at a time the government itself had admitted that the landing cost of petrol was N171, did not help matters.

 

He said, “This House has passed several resolutions on fuel scarcity. We have said on countless occasions that our four refineries must work at full capacity. We have said that if it is N145 per litre, enforcement agencies must be able to enforce the price.