House of Reps seeks appropriate pricing for petroleum products

The House of Representatives is seeking appropriate pricing for petroleum products in the country in other to ensure that Nigerians get value for money.

The Chairman, Ad-hoc Committee on the Review of Pump Price of Petrol, Hon. Raphael Igbokwe, disclosed this during an inspection of facilities at NIPCO Plc in Apapa, Lagos, at the weekend.

He pointed out that users of the product should get good value for products at affordable rates so as to improve the socio economic life of the people among other benefits of low pump price of petrol.

He commended the management of NIPCO Plc for massive investment drive in the downstream sector.

According to him, “NIPCO is a case study of locally promoted company in the downstream industry that started from the scratch to become a major player in the sector. We have come to see the magic wand that has made you to have this splendid leap in few years of your operations.

“Yours is an excellent show case of good partnership of indigenous petroleum marketers and a core investor that is fast changing the face of product storage and marketing in the country.”

He said stakeholders’ support for organisations like NIPCO is a veritable way of attracting more Foreign Direct investment (FDI) into the industry adding that with the rising profile of the company, there is hope for more FDI inflow into the economy.

Commending the recent acquisition of majority shareholding in Mobil Oil of Nigeria (MON), Hon. Igbokwe said it is a good omen for an indigenous company acquiring controlling equity in downstream section of an IOC.

He noted with satisfaction the state of the art facilities in the terminal and the services being rendered in the storage and loading of petroleum products stressing that also worthy of mentioning is the seamless inflow and outflow of trucks at the depot.

In his welcome remarks, the Group Managing Director, NIPCO, Mr Venkataraman Venkatapathy, said the visit of the committee members would afford them the opportunity to see our facilities and do an on the spot assessment of our efforts in the industry.

He told the visiting MPs that NIPCO had being in the forefront of harnessing the great potentials of the nation especially in the area of natural gas aside from storage and distribution of white products .

“The operations at the terminal are highly automated with little human intervention to guarantee high level of efficiency and accuracy in the storage and dispense of products,” he said.

In his remarks, Group Executive Director (GED), Corporate Services, NIPCO Plc, Alhaji Aminu Abdulkadir, said if given the required support to access product, Nigerians will get good value for their money .

He said the companies hardly utilise 30 per cent of its installed capacity which is not good enough. But with an improved product access, he said NIPCO can change the supply equation to filling stations across the country.

Alhaji Aminu stated that the operations of the company had open vista of employment opportunities for Nigerians as part of growing the local content as enshrined in the Nigerian Content Act.