The importation into the country of about 100 million litres of adulterated Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise called petrol, has caused damage to automobiles, hardship to citizens just as it has affected businesses and the economy in general. A scandalous infraction of this enormity is unfortunate and, therefore, condemned in the strongest of terms. The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) confirmed that the shipment which arrived from LITASCO Terminal in Antwerp, Belgium, contained a higher level of methanol than the Nigerian specification for petrol.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, announced after last week’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting that the federal government would investigate the circumstances behind the circulation of contaminated petrol. The minister also said matters over damaged vehicles as a result of the “unusual” incident would be taken into consideration in dealing with the situation; adding that, “Nobody has, before now, checked for methanol in our fuel; it’s not very usual and this is the first time this is happening.”
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) admitted that its inspectors tested and certified all the imported cargoes of petrol but the test was not for methanol, which was discovered to be higher in the product. The Group Managing Director of NNPC Limited, Malam Mele Kyari, later named the firms which NNPC engaged to import the product from January 20, 2022. He said investigations by NNPC revealed the presence of methanol in four cargoes imported by the Direct-Sale-Direct-Purchase (DSDP) suppliers which are MRS; Emadeb/Hyde/AY Maikifi/Britania-U Consortium; Oando; and Duke Oil (NNPC Subsidiary).
Some of the questions Nigerians are asking include: How did it happen that agencies with a core mandate over importation of products including the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) failed to detect the higher level of methanol in the refined petroleum product before it was cleared for passage and circulation in the country? How also did the country, as insinuated, come about the procedure, which provides for technical personnel that would inspect petroleum products on behalf of the NNPC before it is shipped to the country to comprise mainly of foreign experts?
While we welcome the investigation which government has promised to carry out, we quickly add that it should be thorough and without delay. Nonetheless, we are of the view that a panel of investigation instituted by an arm of government other than the executive would be more reliable in unravelling all the violations and inactions perpetrated by individuals or groups involved in the saga. We urge the relevant committees of the National Assembly to expedite action on the investigation and make public their findings.
Besides recommending solutions for blocking the lapses that led to the current mess, the report of the investigation panel should include modalities for compensating persons whose vehicles suffered damage as a result of the adulterated petrol. Culprits found guilty; either individuals or corporate organisations, in the public or private sector, should be punished according to the extant laws of the country. The “heads”, which government has declared “will roll”, must be seen to actually roll no matter who is involved.
The attendant fuel queues that followed the discovery in circulation of adulterated petrol, which only ensued after government declined its intention to withdraw subsidy, is one incredible irony of the moment. The attempt to withdraw the bad fuel from circulation cannot be a valid explanation for the current fuel queues at filling stations. The current fuel crisis which has persisted for two weeks now also brings the recent assertion by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources that the NNPC Limited has the capacity to bridge any shortfall in supply under serious interrogations.
We reject the move by NNPC Limited to reblend the adulterated product. Rather, it should be returned to the country of purchase. NNPC Limited must quickly end the long fuel queues being experienced in many parts of the country. It must ensure sanity in the supply and distribution of petrol to end the inexcusable hardship being suffered by citizens. It is embarrassing enough and no less a national scandal that one of the world’s largest producers of crude oil is exclusively dependent on refined imported products for its domestic consumption needs. It is a shame that the same oil-rich country is most often in the news not for any strategic or development strides in the industry; but more for inexcusable sectorial crises. Nigerians have no reason to queue for fuel or purchase adulterated petrol in their country.
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