It is shocking that Nigerians have been suffering from fuel scarcity in the country when the solution could be found within.
The recent fuel scarcity is an indication that the idea of NNPC importing fuel into the country will not solve the problem.The NNPC as a sole importer of products is currently riddled with its own challenges, the problem of forex and corruption in the system, recently there was a report stating that the NNPC was operating a special forex regime.
The shocking reality is that the problem of fuel scarcity will persist, quality control problems will also suffice, as seen last year with the importation of bad fuel that damaged the car of millions and till date no compensation was paid.
From my investigation, it is evident that the problem of fuel scarcity can be minimized by providing crude to the existing modular refineries in Naira.The NNPC insistence to sell crude in USD has hampered crude uptake by the four existing modular refineries in Nigeria.
Currently, a lot of them are producing below capacity, some that have capacity for 10,000 barrels or more per day cannot get the needed crude for production because of the dollarization of the system.
It is so sad that most of the regulatory payments in the sector are done in the USDollars, which will only strengthen the dollar, we always say buy made in Nigeria to grow the Naira but our energy sector is poised to grow the dollar.
Since NNPC has ramped up production, it is time to sell crude to our modular refineries.If NNPC harnesses the capacity of our modular refineries we could get close to half of our PMS production from them.
So the current difficulty of getting crude for our modular refineries is like cutting the nose to spite the face.We must use crude for our benefit and the argument of selling crude to our local refineries in dollars is a counterproductive one because the federal allocation is shared in Naira every month.
This is an ongoing debate that I am open to exploring.
