Palpable fear has gripped major oil marketers that their multi billion Naira investments in the downstream sector are increasingly coming under intense threat over Nigerian government’s inability to grant them licenses to resume importation of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly called petrol. Among the major headaches of the aggrieved marketers is the current fuel importation monopoly being enjoyed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) which has continued for the last two years and which they claimed was putting most their investments in the downstream sector in harmsway. The oil marketers who spoke to Daily Sun said that although they have always supported the Federal Government’s policy of downstream deregulation, they are however miffed that the NNPC has remained the sole importer of white products for the entire nation, stressing it was high time the issue was reviewed to allow the private sector, especially the major marketers to activate their huge investment in the sector. According to them, deregulation would allow market forces determine the price of petrol as against the price fixing module of the Federal Government, through the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA).
Sun