NNPC, oil marketers move against scarcity, urge PIGB passage

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Major Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) are strengthening existing relationships to avert scarcity of petroleum products nationwide.Speaking at a MOMAN Chief Executive Officers Strategy Retreat Dinner at the weekend in Abuja, the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, said a deal with the marketers would address inherent challenges in the downstream sector, particularly in the area of effective supply of petroleum products across the federation.

He stressed that unless the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB) was passed into law, strengthening of operations in the nation’s oil and gas sector could remain elusive. Baru said: “We maintain good relations with MOMAN which have helped to ensure that there was product availability nationwide during the last Yuletide and the just concluded election period. MOMAN is living up to our expectation as partners. NNPC is ready to escalate whatever recommendations the association comes up with at the end of its retreat to appropriate authorities.”

He urged the marketers to always fulfil their contractual obligations to the national oil agency, adding that remittances from the association go into the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) to service the three tiers of government.MOMAN chairman, Tunji Oyebanji, pledged the body’s commitment to the realisation of government’s petroleum policy for a better nation where hydrocarbons are deployed to fuel national economic growth beyond mere source of income.

He said the association was repositioning to tackle the challenges besetting the industry.“We have a relationship with the NNPC and its downstream subsidiary, the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC). We will continue to improve on the ties to take the downstream sector of the oil and gas industry to enviable heights,” he pledged.

The Federal Executive Council (FEC), had in 2017, approved the National Petroleum Policy to articulate a vision for Nigeria that could make it become a nation where hydrocarbons boost economic growth.MOMAN’s Chief Executive Officer, Clement Isong, pointed out that oil majors remain reliable partners of government in the actualisation of the policy and other strategic programmes.He said the group would equally set the pace and develop international best practices in the running of the downstream sector through promotion, development of institutional capacity and sustainable industry as well as adherence to a self-regulatory regime that support economic and social growth.