IT is a crime to say that this Christmas is merry. In the last three weeks at least, Nigerians have been experiencing arguably one of the most horrendous fuel crises since the return to civil rule in 1999. From Lagos to Port Harcourt, from Ibadan to Abuja, from Aba to Jos and from Gusau to Owerri, Nigerians have had tales of woe to tell. Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), the commodity that most Nigerians rely on for their movement, has become almost as scarce as gold. Black marketers are having a field day—even state governors are rumoured to be part of their clientele— and many are passing the night at filling stations, waiting for a miracle. The roads are full of despondent citizens trekking long distances, painfully circumscribed by want. The few commercial cars and buses on the roads charge prices that are beyond the reach of the average passenger.
What makes the current crisis particularly disturbing and abhorrent is that it has coincided with very hard times for workers. In many states across the country, workers are being owed months of salary arrears. Pensioners are living in despair and many families have been reduced to mendicancy. Dreams have been shattered and hopes dashed. Indeed, the situation is so bad that even religious meanings are being read into the crisis. At the onset of the crisis, the authorities chose to play politics with the pain of Nigerians, issuing fatuous orders and giving hollow promises. They assured that there was enough fuel to take care of the Christmas and New Year celebrations. The Federal Executive Council (FEC), the highest decision-making body in the land, ordered the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, to end the crisis in just 48 hours, a task which the minister did not confess was beyond him. The minister made promises but the agonies on the streets merely intensified. The FEC understandably refused to take up President Muhammadu Buhari, the Minster of Petroleum, on the issue.
The blame games have been ludicrous. The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) blamed depot owners and fuel marketers whom it accused of hoarding the commodity. In a statement in Abuja, National Secretary of IPMAN, Mr. Danladi Pasali, lamented that depot owners were taking advantage of the high demand of the commodity during the festive period to create artificial scarcity in order to fleece Nigerians. Pasali, who was speaking after a meeting with NNPC officials, called on the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and other regulators in the petroleum downstream sector to heighten their surveillance on the marketers. But the marketers rejected IPMAN’s imputations, saying that they were being blackmailed.
On its part, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) declared categorically that it was not responsible for the acute fuel scarcity, flaying the fuel marketers and the NNPC. National Public Relations Officer of PENGASSAN, Comrade Fortune Obi, claimed that the marketers wanted the petrol pump price to be increased and were creating artificial scarcity to force the increase in their favour. He added: “The rivalry between IPMAN, MOMAN & DAPPMA over fuel allocation is a factor. The leadership controversies in IPMAN also contribute to the scarcity. Hoarding by fuel station owners and panic buying by Nigerians are equally a problem. The scarcity started two weeks before PENGASSAN issued a seven-day ultimatum notice on December 7. ”
And in his increasingly characteristic manner of addressing pertinent public issues only after mounting pressure from the public, President Buhari spoke out for the first time on Sunday, sympathising with Nigerians over their suffering. In a statement personally signed by him and posted on his verified twitter handle, he could not help giving the false assurance that the NNPC was on top of the situation. He said: “I sympathise with all Nigerians on having to endure needless fuel queues. I have the NNPC’s assurance that the situation will improve significantly over the next few days, as new shipments and supplies are distributed across the country. I have also directed the regulators to step up their surveillance and bring an end to hoarding and price inflation by marketers.”
But Nigerians are not interested in blame games and hollow promises. What they want is fuel at their convenience. The government must therefore ensure that the crisis does not extend into the new year. However, what Nigerians want can only be guaranteed when the petroleum sector is fully deregulated. The current practice by the NNPC of surreptitiously subsidising PMS with money that should go into the Federation Account and putting the expenses under “operational costs” is defeatist. The federal and state governments must come to a roundtable and reach an agreement on the full deregulation of the sector, which would remove the government’s stranglehold and allow marketers to sell their products at competitive prices. That is how, together with regular payment of workers, to guarantee a merry Christmas for Nigerians. We salute Nigerians for their fortitude in these adverse times.