Toxic fuel in circulation

FOR two weeks, Nigerians have been groaning over yet another fuel crisis. This time, the crisis arose from the importation of adulterated Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) into the country. The fuel, which was said to have had a higher methanol content than required in the country, had caused motorists a lot of misery, and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited had to withdraw the residue from circulation following ceaseless complaints. But the withdrawal created scarcity and orchestrated the return of fuel queues in Lagos, Abuja and many other cities across the country. In the meantime, some owners of petrol stations have cashed in on the situation, selling PMS at prohibitive prices. And quite naturally, the black market has witnessed unusual resurgence.

Last week, the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Limited, Mr. Mele Kyari, traced the  genesis of the present crisis at a late-night briefing in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). According to him, the corporation had, on January 20, received a report from its quality inspectors on the presence of emulsion particles in PMS cargoes shipped to Nigeria from Antwerp, Belgium. The PMS, he said, had been imported into the country by four importers, namely MRS, Emadeb/Hyde/AY Maikifi/Brittania-U Consortium, Oando and Duke Oil, and quality inspectors had failed to detect the high level of methanol it contained, first at the point of import in Belgium and secondly at the point of arrival in Nigeria. According to him, the usual quality inspection protocol employed in both the load port in Belgium and the discharge ports in Nigeria did not include testing for the percentage of methanol content and so the additive was not detected by its quality inspectors.

The importers, in separate reactions, however flatly denied the corporation’s claims, saying that the fuel they had imported into the country met the required specification. The claims and counter-claims notwithstanding, it is clear that adulterated fuel was imported into the country, and Nigerians deserve to know the truth. In a subsequent update this week, the NNPC boss indicated that the corporation had filed litigation against importers of the adulterated PMS considering the impacts of the withdrawal of the products from the economy. Speaking in Abuja during the investigative hearing on the importation of adulterated PMS held under the auspices of the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream), Kyari noted that the corporation had rejected additional five vessels of PMS imported into the country by a company.  He added that the corporation had taken every necessary step to restore normalcy in the country,  having placed “orders significant enough” for the country “to cross into March, with at least 2.1 billion litres of PMS in our custody.”

It is indeed saddening that despite being a major producer of fuel, Nigeria continues to experience one fuel crisis after another. Currently, not a single litre of the petroleum products used in the country is produced locally. Being imported, the products are not processed locally, and the country has to depend on the judgment of the quality inspectors. The situation in the country is further complicated by the fact that, without any reliable statistics on anything, it is futile talking about compensation for the Nigerians whose vehicles have been badly damaged by the adulterated fuel in question. Just how do you determine those whose vehicles were affected by the bad fuel in a statistically challenged country like Nigeria where matters of public interest are often deliberately shrouded in secrecy?

It is telling that President Muhammadu Buhari, who is the Minister of Petroleum, is no more informed about the situation than ordinary Nigerians. He has expressed outrage at the development and called for punishment for the perpetrators but ideally, he ought to be able to tell Nigerians what happened, giving all the technical details and outlining the measures taken to safeguard the interest of Nigerians. Again, ideally, every consignment of fuel moved from abroad should have been tested to ensure that it conformed to specifications in all ramifications, but it seems sufficiently clear that the current issue is novel. That being the case, the NNPC and other relevant agencies must ensure that this problem does not recur.  In particular, agencies such as the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) must ensure strict conformance to specifications, so that Nigerians do not suffer unduly from the failure of the regulatory authorities in future.

Hopefully, however, the country will refine its own fuel someday, produce the required quantities for daily consumption, and shut down fuel importation completely.

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