BusinessDay 03 Apr 2018

Tuesday 03 April 2018
27
BUSINESS DAY
Energy Report
C002D5556
Oil & Gas Power Renewables Environment
NPA, NIMASA frustrating oil marketers on ease of importing fuel
OLUSOLA BELLO
Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu
The Federal Government
efforts at
reducing the cost
of importing fuel
and allowing private
sector participation in
bringing the product into the
country thereby mitigating
against fuel scarcity is being
frustrated by the Nigerian
Port Authority and Nigerian
Maritime Administration and
Safety Agency (NIMASA), it
has been alleged.
Oil marketers, who made
the allegation, explained that
this is because the two agencies
have decided to disobey
a Presidential directive which
asked them to reverse the
U.S. Dollar denominated port
charges to Naira fees.
A letter written on January
17, 2018 directing the two
agencies on the matter and
sited by an earlier report by
BuasinessDay stated that approval
has been granted for the
U.S dollar denominated fees
to be reversed to Naira for oil
importers by the presidency.
The letter which was signed
by Abba Kyari, chief of staff at
the Presidency stated, “kindly
note that Mr. President has approved
that NPA and NIMASA
charges, relating to petroleum
products importation currently
paid in U.S dollars under the
PPPRA price template should
henceforth be paid in Naira.
The letter was sent to Emmanuel
Ibe Kachikwu , minister
of state for petroleum and
copied the Group Managing
Director of the NNPC and
executive secretary of the
PPPPRA .
The PPPRA which was
Rotimi Amaechi
said to have notified the oil
companies of the presidential
approval told them to get
back to it in case they have
any difficulty with the two
agencies.
The two agencies it was
learnt have refused to carry
out the directive stating that
their parent ministry which is
the Ministry of Transport has
not told them to do so.
The Petroleum Product
Pricing Regulatory Agency
(PPPRA ) which notified the
oil companies of the presidential
approval had told
the companies to get back to
it in case they encountered
any challenges with the two
agencies.
“This is to bring to the
attentions of oil importers of
the presidential approval that
NPA and NIMASA charges
relating to petroleum products
import under the PPPRA
, pricing Template should
henceforth be paid in Naira,
as against the current practice
of paying in U.S Dollars,” a
source from PPPRA stated.
This was fall out of a report
the presidential committee
on petroleum products supply
and distribution, primarily
set up to address recent
petroleum product scarcity,
especially Premium Motor
Spirit or petrol in the country.
Several attempt to find out
what PPPRA is doing where
not successful as phone calls
to some of its officials did
not go through. While Isichei
Osamgbi who is the spokes
persons for MIMASA sent a
text that he would get back to
me but he never did. It was the
same situation with Abdullahi
Goge, the general manager,
Communication, NPA.
Local content, solution to
unemployment in Nigeria
The adoption and implementation
Local
Content policies in
key sectors of the Nigerian
economy will address
the high unemployment rate
in Nigeria, Simbi Wabote, the
executive secretary, Nigerian
Content Development and
Monitoring Board (NCDMB),
has said.
He made this assertion in
Port Harcourt, Rivers State
at an event organized by the
Institute of Directors (IoD),
Nigeria, where he made a
presentation as the Guest
Speaker.
In his presentation titled,
“Addressing Unemployment:
Local Content Option”,
Wabote regretted that
for many years, until lately,
Nigeria had regarded crude
oil as a commodity, instead
of a resource - a situation
which resulted in the loss of
all in-country value adding
activities and opportunity to
capture the full benefits of
the derivatives of crude oil.
He noted that the enactment
of Local Content Law in the
oil and gas industryand its
implementation has become
a game changer, helping
Nigeria to claw back work,
services and spend which
used to leave the country to
other parts of the world. He
reiterated that the essence of
local content policy is “domiciliation
and domestication”.
Stating that the oil and
gas sector is not a huge employer
of labour, compared
to Agriculture, the Executive
Secretary commended the
current emphasis on Agriculture
and diversification
by the Federal Government
of President Muhammad
Buhari. He also lauded the
Federal Government’s reinforcement
of the Local
Content Policy through the
issuance of Executive Order
5, designed to boost local
content practice in other
critical sectors of the economy.
He argued that with the
huge unemployment figure
of about 16 million from the
Bureau of Statistics(NBS),
a staggering number equal
to the total population of
three West African countries
of Sierra Leone, Togo and
Liberia, Nigeria needs to extend
Local Content practice
to other critical sectors like
Agriculture, ICT, Construction,
Power and Manufacturing
in order to tackle the
scourge of unemployment
in the country. Wabote alsoargued
that for Nigeria to
derive full benefits from Agriculture,
it must look at the
various derivatives across
Agricultural supply chain as
to create jobs and boost the
economy. He cautioned, “we
must not repeat the mistake
of ‘commodity trading’ with
agriculture”.
NNPC boss to declare open Nigerian pavilion at OTC
Maikanti Baru,
group managing
director of
the Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation
NNPC will formally
declare open the Nigerian
Pavilion at Reliant Centre
on Monday 30th of April,
during this year’s Offshore
Technology Conference and
Exhibition taking place in
Houston Texas, United States
of America.
This would be followed on
Power generation situation last week
Source: Power Advisary Team
Tuesday with discussions on
important and topical issues
impacting Nigerian local
industry by seasoned oil and
gas administrators, legislators
and policy makers.
About 2,500 professionals
and industry leaders from
Nigeria and beyond her shore
will attend this year’s event.
The event which is being
coordinated by Petroleum
Technology Association of
Nigeria (PETAN) will provide
a unique platform for close
interactions with leading
international oil majors and
Nigerian oil service companies,
indigenous oil companies,
industry executives,
government policy makers
and political leaders, to
share ideas on improving the
Nigerian oil industry.
According to Ranti Omole,
the association’s Publicity
Secretary in a statement said
that the event which is the
premier gathering of professionals
and opinion leaders
in the global oil and gas industry,
will provides excellent
opportunities for positive
portrayal and promotion of
the great potentials of Nigeria
and the Nigerian oil and gas
industry
PETAN member companies
and many other indigenous
oil service companies
will be part of a robust
contingent, to showcase
the dynamism and potentials
of Nigeria’s Petroleum
Industry.
Olusola Bello, Team lead, Analysts: Kelechi Ewuzie, Isaac Anyaogu, Graphics: Joel Samson. Email: energyreport@businessdayonline.com, Tel: +234-8023020011; +234-7037817378; +234-8036534708