Buhari chairs 14-man committee to tackle fuel scarcity

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the constitution of a 14-man Steering Committee on Petroleum Products Supply and Dis­tribution Management, which he will personally chair, in a bid to proffer long lasting solution to the scarcity of fuel in the country

This is contained in a statement signed by Senior Adviser (Media & Communications) to Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Horatius Egua, which was made available to newsmen on Tuesday.

According to the statement, the steering committee, which consists Min­ister of State for Petroleum Resource, Chief Timipre Sylva, as Alternate Chairman, is expected to, among oth­er things, ensure transparent and efficient supply and distribution of petroleum products across the country. ­

Other terms of reference are to ensure national strategic stock management, visibility on the NNPC Limited refiner­ies rehabilitation programme and ensure end-end tracking of petroleum products, especial PMS to ascertain daily nation­al consumption and eliminate smuggling.

To further ensure sanity in the supply and distribution across the value chain, Syl­va has directed the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Author­ity (NMDPRA) to ensure strict compliance with the govern­ment approved ex-depot and retail prices for PMS.

The minister has further di­rected the NMDPRA to ensure that NNPC Limited, which is the supplier of last resort, meets the domestic supply obli­gation of PMS and other petro­leum products in the country, adding that the interests of the ordinary Ni­gerian is protected from price exploitation on other deregulat­ed products such as AGO, DPK and LPG.

He said the Federal Govern­ment will not allow misguided elements to bring untold hard­ship upon the citizenry and attempt to discredit govern­ment’s efforts in consolidating the gains made thus far in the oil and gas sector of the econ­omy.

Other members of the com­mittee are Minister of Finance, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum Resources; Na­tional Economic Adviser to the President; Director-General, Department of State Services (DSS); Comptroller-General, Nigerian Customs Service (NCS); Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Com­mission (EFCC), and Com­mandant-General, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).

Others who made up the steering committee are Au­thority Chief Executive, Nige­rian Midstream and member, Downstream Petroleum Regu­latory Authority (NMDPRA); governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN); Group Chief Executive Officer, NNPC Limit­ed; Special Advisor (Special Du­ties) to the HMSPR, while the Technical Advisor, Midstream, to the HMSPR will serve as the secretary.