The establishment of
additional refineries in
the six geo-political zones of the country has become imperative to facil-itate smooth operation and distribution in the downstream sector of the oil indu-stry, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Aminu Bello Masari, said yesterday.
Already, a Bill that would give legal framework for the establishment of the extra refineries to achieve national spread and integration is in the works in the lower legis-lative chamber. Masari also disclosed while addressing audience at the opening of the first Nigerian Down-stream Oil Summit 2004 in Abuja.
The summit organised by the House of Represent-atives committee on petroleum refineries and products marketing with the theme: “Deregulation of the Down Stream Sector; Dividends, Challenges and Prospects,” was to re-appraise the petr-oleum downstream sector reforms introduced by the Obasanjo government since 2001.
Masari who was repres-ented by the House Whip, Hon. Abubakar Bawa Bwari, noted that when passed, the Bill would among other things, provide for a regulatory mechanism that would facilitate uninterrupted and adequate supply of petroleum and allied products to all parts of the country,including remote areas, to be sold at reasonable prices. The Bill also seeks to promote competitive markets and access to monopolistic infrast-ructure in the form of com-mon carrier on non-discrim-inatory basis to all companies.
Part of the targets of the Bill, Masari said, is to make provision for revenue generated from tax on petroleum and allied products to be spent on the development of other infrastructure, especially the moribund railway system.
It also seeks to set up a petroleum and products reg-ulatory commission to over see and regulate the refin-eries, their processing, storage, transportation, distribution, marketing and sale of petroleum products to ensure transparency, accountability and efficiency in service delivery.
The Bill also seeks to revoke licences, if within two years of approval, the refinery fails to take off, Masari added.
In his presentation at the summit, Vice President Atiku Abubakar, represented by FCT minister, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, believed that the country cannot move forward unless major issues of infrastructure are urgently addressed and revived.
They include electric power sector transformation, effective supply of petroleum products, efficient telec-ommunication delivery, virile railway system and effective ports system.
Chairman of the committee on petroleum refineries and products marketing of the House which organised the summit, Hon. Peter Igbodor, said the comatose state of the refineries and the issue of content in respect of key players in the downstream sector were worrisome and that the summit would re-appraise them.
In a message, President Olusegun Obasanjo gave a pass mark to the federal government’s policy on the deregulation of the downstream sector of the petro-leum industry saying the policy has fulfilled its objective.
Represented by his special adviser on legislative matters, Senator Florence Ita-Giwa, the president said barely three years into the deregulation policy, the country has witnessed availability of products while all segments of the sector have been opened up for competition.
This, he said is a significant break from the situation in 1999 when his administration came to office and observed that the downstream sector was “in a sorry and confused state and there was scarcity of petroleum products leading to pere-nnial queues at the filling stations in the country.”
This, the president said, informed his decision to constitute the special committee on the review of prod-ucts supply and distribution which recommended the deregulation of the downstream sector of the petroleum industry.
“…You will agree with me that the implementation of government deregulation policy has fulfilled its obje-ctive of ensuring products availability and opening up all segments of the downstream sector of the oil indu-stry to competition,” he stated.
Earlier, vice president, Atiku Abubakar had noted in a goodwill message that the introduction of the policy as one of the key programmes of the present administration has translated into better quality life for Nigerians.
The vice president who was represented by the FCT minister, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, said it was the desire of the present administration to see more refineries established in the country so as to exterminate the problem of scarcity of petroleum products for good.
Chairman of the House of Representatives committee on petroleum, refineries and products marketing, Prince Peter Igbodor, had in his opening remark, noted that the nation is not unaware of the pains caused by the deregulation of the sector.
He observed however that prospective investors in the sector are still faced with conditionalities which he said should be removed to foster development in the sector.
Igbodo noted that for the problem of imbalance to be resolved in the sector, conscious efforts should be made to increase local content in the industry. |
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