The Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari, yesterday explained why oil marketers refrain from importation of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).
Kyari said oil marketers could not cope with price oscillation in the downstream sector.
He spoke during an interactive session with the Senate Committee on Finance at the National Assembly.
Kyari said: “The oil companies withdrew because they can’t manage the oscillation and responsibility that the Petroleum Industry Act imposed on us. We have the market and I can assure you that we are managing this.
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“Some marketers buy from us and sell. But there is an element that we can’t control. For instance, truck owners can adjust their prices, we have no control over that.”
Kyari explained further that the distortion in the foreign exchange market which the marketers argued was a disincentive to their participation in the fuel importation business, was nothing to worry about.
“There is always a parallel market in every country. There is also an import and export window in every country, even in the developed world.
“But there is always a narrow gap between the two and it takes time for you to have stability in this gap so that you have a low margin between the two for a sustained period, then businesses will thrive.
“I am very confident that by the end of the first quarter of next year, those margins will narrow and stability will come and you will see others coming into the importation market,” he said.
He also said contrary to reports, the oil giant has been doing well since the passage of the PIA, disclosing that NNPCL had remitted N4.5 trillion into the Federation Account as of October 2023.
He told the lawmakers that better days are ahead for the company and Nigeria as reforms contained in the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) for the oil sector have made NNPCL at par with its counterparts across the world.
