From David Onwuchekwa, Nnewi
One of the major oil marketers in Anambra State, Chief Kenneth Maduakor has said that the Federal government has no other option than to revive all the moribund refineries in Nigeria to achieve meaningful reduction in the prices of petroleum products.
The big time marketer said there could be no price stability or meaningful reduction in pump price of petroleum products in the industry as the prices were bound to fluctuate.
He, however, argued that competitive market as a result of more functional refineries would bring down the prices to the advantage of the final consumers.
He also called for more investors in the oil industry to further make it competitive, adding that there has been no restrictions to investors in the industry.
“Until government goes back to the drawing board to see what it can seriously do to revive moribund refineries, you should not expect anything better in the industry.
“The way things are going now, government has no other option than to revive moribund refineries and stop playing politics over that. They did not want to do that based on reasons best known to them.
“Right now the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is no longer the first option or in full control. Dangote is there making a serious impact in the oil sector. But if the moribund refineries could be fixed, the NNPC may bounce back as a key player, “he noted.
Chief Maduakor said that it would not make any business sense for anybody to import finished petroleum products into Nigeria, adding that the importation had already dropped by over 70 percent.
As for the stability of pump price of petroleum products, especially Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), Chief Maduakor said there could not be price stability as it is, according to him, controlled by the price of crude oil in the international market.
He explained that if the price of the crude oil crashes, the price of the finished product would also come down.
The petroleum products marketer, however, expressed concern over the high cost of goods generally in the market which he attributed to bad leadership.
“People cry of high cost of living in the country which is caused by bad governance. Until we have corruption-free governance, don’t expect anything better. I must tell you, a lot of things are not going well. I don’t want to say more than this, “he concluded.
