The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) has been urged to concession its inland depots and pipelines in a bid to improve effective supply of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) in the country.
The Executive Director, Centre for Sustainable Mobility and Development, Kayode Opeifa, who was a guest on a television programme, stated this on the backdrop of the persistence of fuel scarcity plaguing the country.
Opeifa, a former Commissioner for Transportation in Lagos State, also advised the private sector to leverage on the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), saying more private players would help resolve the dependency on NNPCL only to import fuel.
He said, “The first thing is to ensure that the PIA works in full. By that time we have other providers for PMS other than NNPCL, then we can diversify supply.
“The private sector, with this PIA, should come in. NNPCL can concession their existing pipelines for people or on the corridors for people to other pipelines.
“They can also concession the inland depots, the ones in Suleja, Ilorin, Ejigbo and Ore, and you start going up North to Kano, Kaduna and the rest.”
He bemoaned the persistence of fuel scarcity, blaming it on lack of infrastructure, vandalisation of pipelines and forex.
However, he expressed optimism that the commencement of the Dangote Refinery in selling of fuel by August, would salvage the problem of supply.
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