The recent circulation of adulterated fuel has grounded economic activities and led to long queues at filling stations across the country. The development has also caused artificial scarcity of the product. In some states, petrol is sold for between N200 and N400 per litre. It is regrettable that despite the on-going investigations by the Federal Government and the House of Representatives to unravel exactly what went wrong, and the president’s vow to deal with the culprits, the matter is yet to be resolved.                          

Apart from huge economic losses, toxic fuel can damage the engines of vehicles and also cause environmental pollution and diseases. While the contaminated fuel is being withdrawn, the regulatory agencies should rein in those behind its importation into the country. The circulation of dirty fuel is a strong indication that something is definitely wrong with our importation and distribution regime as well as regulatory systems that seem to have pandered more to political and personal economic motives than national interest.            

A situation where Nigeria depends almost entirely on imports to meet its domestic fuel consumption is haunting the country now. The dirty fuel saga dawned on Nigerians, some weeks ago, when the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) revealed that it discovered that petrol imported into the country contained methanol above Nigeria’s specification. Methanol is a regular additive, “a multipurpose fuel used as a blending component in fuels, or for the production of fuel components.” The methanol-blended petrol, which is not made for Nigeria, made its way into the country. The quantity was put at about 200 million litres.                                                        

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is reported to handle all the imports through its ‘Crude-for-fuel’ contracts, also known as Direct Sale, Direct Purchase (DSDP). This it does through a consortium of local and foreign oil firms. Each consortium reportedly receives about 20,000 barrels per day of crude oil in exchange for products, making the combined total of about 320,000bpd of Nigeria’s output. The consortium, NNPC disclosed, includes MRS, Oando, EMADEB/Hyde/AY Maikifi/Brittania and Duke Oil. Following the discovery of the toxic petrol, the NNPC issued a statement accusing the four petroleum suppliers it engaged in the swap crude for petrol of culpability. Swiftly, the contractors denied responsibility and also blamed NNPC.                                                 

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According to the NNPC GMD, Mele Kyari, the cargoes’ quality certificates issued at Antwerp, Belgium, indicated that the petrol complied with Nigeria’s specification and that the corporation’s quality inspectors conducted tests before discharge, which it claimed, showed that the fuel met Nigeria’s specification. While the blame game is still on, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, gave assurance that government would unravel how the toxic petrol was imported, promising that the culprits would be punished after the investigation. He also said that government would compensate those whose car engines might have been adversely affected by the toxic fuel. Similarly, President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered full sanctions on those implicated in the saga, noting that they must be held accountable for wrongdoing.                    

The President also directed the relevant government agencies to take appropriate steps in line with the laws of the land to ensure the respect and “protection of consumers against marketing abuse and social injustice.” He also called for full disclosure of relevant information on the matter. He added that aggrieved consumers are entitled to proper redress, in line with the laws of the country.      

Beyond punishing those behind the importation of methanol-blended fuel into the country, the government should fix our four refineries and make elaborate plans to build new ones. We cannot continue to depend on imported fuel, which encourages corruption through dubious fuel subsidy claims. Nigeria is about the only member of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) that still imports refined petroleum products. If there are lessons to be learnt from the embarrassing fuel importation saga, it is the need to ensure transparency in the processes. We say this because lack of transparency breeds corruption in the system.                    

We call on the regulatory agencies to strengthen their surveillance and monitoring systems in the entire petroleum value chain. This will enable regulators detect violators of standards before they enter the domestic supply chain. The methanol-blended fuel saga has underscored the need to reform the petroleum sector in ways that will prevent the importation of dirty fuel in future.