Following complaints from oil marketers about a lack of finances to import products, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) met with them on Wednesday in Abuja as part of a strategy to avoid product scarcity since the sector was fully deregulated.
Mr Farouk Ahmed, Chief Executive Officer of the NMDPRA, stated that the engagement was to finalize methods for petrol importation, especially because the NNPCL will no longer be the exclusive importer of petroleum products and will eventually reduce its market share to 30-40%.
Oil marketers with outstanding payments, he says, should come for reconciliation to guarantee the ecosystem survives in healthy competition. In another incident, the Nigerian Natural Oil and Gas Suppliers Association (NOGASA) urged the federal government to immediately pay up billions of naira it owes marketers for bridging costs that accumulated long before subsidy on petrol was removed.
NOGASA President, Benedict Korie, in a media briefing said the petrol scarcity horror could resurface as the marketers are currently cash-strapped with no funds to import products.