The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has repeatedly debunked the rumour that it plans to increase the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly known as petrol, in the country. The Group General- Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the NNPC, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu MFR, who made this known in a statement in Abuja, advised motorists and other petroleum products consumers to disregard the trending rumour. He said that the statement of the Corporation’s Group Managing Director, Malam Mele Kolo Kyari, at the National Assembly last Wednesday did not suggest any plan to increase the price of the product.
Mr. Ughamadu said that Malam Kyari had observed at the event that the huge disparity in the pump price of petrol between Nigeria, on one hand and her neighbouring country, on the other hand, tended to encourage cross border leakages. Although the statement of the Group Managing Director of the NNPC raised speculations that the Corporation might increase petrol price, Mr. Ughamadu maintained that the oil firm is the supplier of last resort and as such, must keep the country wet with petroleum products.
In that case, there are better days ahead for petroleum products consumers in the country, particularly as Malam Mele Kolo Kyari has mounted the saddle of one of the world’s richest conglomerates, the NNPC. Malam Kyari, who hails from Borno State, succeeded the former Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru, as the nineteenth Group Managing Director of NNPC.
With a rich profile and service credentials, Malam Kyari, who bagged a degree on Geology and Earth Science from the University of Maiduguri, has the scientific background to ensure that Nigerians must not be subjected to any form of stress in respect to products supply and distribution. This is not all. Malam Kyari is well known in the oil industry as a crude oil marketer with outfield pedigree in petroleum economics and crude oil and gas trading.
With over thirty-two years experience in the oil and gas industry, his tour of duty traversed the entire value chain of the petroleum industry.
Under his watch, the Crude Oil Marketing Division of the NNPC has recorded noticeable transformation in the management and sales of the various Nigeria’s Crude oil grades through an infusion of transparency and automation of the processes. How then can there be insinuations of increase in the pump price of petroleum products when a geological colossus has started to superintend familiar coast?
There are other insinuations to guarantee seamless supply of petroleum products across the nation. First, between 1988 and 1991, Malam Kyari worked with the Nigerian Geological Agency before joining the NNPC subsidiary, the Integrated Data Service Limited (IDSL) where he worked as a Seismic Data Processing Geophysicist in the Data Processing Department.
Malam Kyari has worked in various sections of the NNPC and has garnered myriads of experiences to place him in good stead at the head of the Corporation. He knows the nitty gritty of the nation’s oil firm that with him, there is no cause for alarm. In fact, with him, Nigerians from all walks of life should disregard the insinuation of a hike in the price of petrol. The Corporation is not even in a position to regulate the prices of petroleum products. As directed by relevant agencies of the government, the pump price of petrol remains N145 per litre.
According to the spokesperson, Mr. Ughamadu, NNPC, for now, is absorbing the cost of petroleum products in line with its social responsibility as supplier of last resort, while at the same time managing its debt. This is the reason why when marketers are not supplying and not bringing in products, the NNPC cannot join them because the nation will suffer.
Be that as it may, while Malam Kyari will strive to ensure seamless supply of the products, stakeholders in the downstream petroleum sector should avoid any act that could undermine the process. Luckily, the new web-based customer express solutions and the Business Process Automation Solutions would go a long way in supporting the NNPC Management’s commitment to improving the efficiency of its business operations.
Petroleum products marketers should not sell above the N145 per litre price stipulated by relevant government agencies. Nigerians should be vigilant and ready to volunteer information to the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), the Industry regulator, or to any law enforcement agency around them on any station that sells petrol beyond N145 per litre.
This way, the supply gap in the downstream sector or speculations of increase in pump price of petroleum products, will be a thing of the past. Let us support the effort to ensure seamless supply of petroleum products across the country. NNPC….Touching your life in many positive ways.
