BREAKING NEWS, Oil & Gas
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Eighty percent of total corruption related issues in Nigeria happen in the oil and gas industry, according to the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria
| By Anayo Ezugwu | Aug 24, 2015 @ 01:00 GMT |
The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, has said that Nigeria’s oil and gas sector accounts for more than 80 percent of the total corruption-related issues across the country. According to IPMAN, although some cases of corruption may not be seen as involving the oil sector at the surface level, in-depth analysis of most of such cases normally have direct or indirect links to the oil and gas industry.
Chinedu Okoronkwo, national president, IPMAN, said in Abuja, that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, was largely involved in most of the corruption-related issues in the country. Okoronkwo, while commenting on the restructuring of the NNPC, stated that if the federal government could stop corruption in the oil and gas sector, then it would have been able to reduce corruption in Nigeria by 80 percent.
He, however, stated that with the recruitment of private sector players into the national oil firm, the NNPC would be transformed. “By the time that area (oil sector) is rid of all forms of corruption, Nigeria would have got 70 to 80 percent of its problems solved. If corruption in the oil sector is addressed and halted, 80 percent of our problems as a country would have been solved.
“I say this because all the corruption that we are talking about wouldn’t have been a big issue without the NNPC. We cannot shy away from it. But with the coming on board of people from the private sector, we will see a miracle. I have no doubt about what they can do there. If with the likes of Ibe Kachikwu, Exxon Mobil is doing well, he will also bring that experience to bear in managing our national oil corporation, and of course this will be in partnership with the private sector players that have been recruited to work with him,” he said.
The IPMAN president said the restructuring of the corporation was not a surprise because the oil sector accounts for about 80 per cent of Nigeria’s earnings. “The restructuring at the NNPC is expected because you cannot move this country forward without first looking at the oil industry and getting activities in that sector right. Oil accounts for over 80 per cent of our earnings. We can even call it a mono economy because virtually everybody depends on oil,” Okoronkwo said.
He therefore called on the federal government to fix the country’s pipelines, stressing that the facilities were currently a major constraint impeding the smooth distribution of petroleum products produced from the rehabilitated refineries. Although he admitted that he was not aware of the quantity of refined products at the various refineries and if they were enough to be sold in commercial quantity, he maintained that the refineries had started working. “But if the refineries work and the pipelines to convey the refined products are not there, then, it is still a big problem.”
Okoronkwo also berated depot owners over their sanction on oil marketers. He said it is illegal for a depot owner to sanction marketers who lift products from its tank farm. He said the importation of petrol into Nigeria is largely handled by the NNPC and the product is stored in selected tank farms, adding that marketers wishing to buy the product make payments to the NNPC.
According to IPMAN president, it was illegal for Capital Oil and Gas Limited to threaten sanctions against oil marketers over issues relating to products stored in its facilities and meant to be distributed across the country. Recently, the management of Capital Oil announced a ban on some oil marketers for allegedly collecting petroleum products from its terminal and reselling at prices above the stipulated rates set by the federal government.
He said, “The DPR, an arm of the federal ministry of petroleum resources, is the only body or agency of the federal government officially authorised to sanction or discipline errant oil marketers in Nigeria and not any individual or registered business organisation.” He urged the NNPC and other regulatory agencies to caution the oil firm, stressing that Capital Oil had no legal standing to sanction independent marketers.
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