As the energy crisis facing the country showed no sign of abating, oil marketers have called on the Federal Government, especially the National Assembly to pass a law setting up an Energy Bank for Nigeria.
The call came as checks around Abuja yesterday showed that more filling stations were shut due to lack of petrol in stock despite the holidays to celebrate Eid festival.
Speaking to journalists in Abuja, the President of Natural Oil and Gas Suppliers Association of Nigeria, NOGASA, Mr. Benneth Korie said the Energy Bank would help the sector get out of its present cashless state and enable marketers to finance major transactions.
He said: “We urge the National Assembly to enact a bill for the establishment of an Energy Bank for easy transactions in petroleum products in the oil and gas sector.
“The bank will become the place marketers can go for assistance like we have in other sectors like agriculture and industries. There is nothing wrong if we can have that for the energy sector”.
Korie reiterated his call for the Federal Government to sell dollars to diesel importers at the official exchange rate, explaining that high cost diesel was at the heart of Nigeria’s exchange rate.
He said a five-month window should be created for the sector to stock up diesel in order to make the product available across the country.
“The emergency dollar allocation would help more depot owners to import diesel for five months so that we can bring the price of diesel down. There is no diesel at the depots because the owners had to source for foreign exchange at the black marketers which is very expensive”, he added.
Also speaking to Vanguard, the National President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, Debo Ahmed said given the high cost of diesel the government needs to accelerate the pace at which bridging claims are paid.
According to him, “Without electricity we use diesel in all our operations, from moving the trucks from the depots to the stations and for operating the pumps to sell to customers.
“Diesel is currently N800 per litre, it used to be N300 per litre, and you cannot compare both scenarios. We are finding it very difficult to operate and that is why many stations are closed and the scarcity will continue until the government addresses these issues”, he stated.
