The President of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Association of Nigeria, Festus Osifo, has pinpointed the root causes of the persistent fuel queues that have become a recurring nightmare for Nigerian motorists.
Speaking at the 2024 PENGASSAN Energy and Labour Summit in Abuja, Osifo attributed the queues to weak and outdated distribution chains, which he described as a major bottleneck in the downstream sector of the oil and gas industry.
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“The distribution chain is weak in the downstream sector of the oil and gas industry. That is why today, you see queues in most of the stations. The problem may be solved today, but it will resurface tomorrow,” Osifo lamented.
He emphasized that Nigeria’s distribution chain is woefully insufficient to meet the demands of its large and growing population, relying on a single point of product importation and using trucks to distribute across the nation.
Osifo also identified bad roads and flooding as contributing factors to fuel scarcity, which has become a recurring decimal in Nigeria’s fuel supply chain. He stressed that the government needs to take urgent action to address these challenges, including investing in the development and strengthening of the country’s value chain to ensure a more efficient and reliable distribution system.
The PENGASSAN president warned that without significant improvements, Nigeria would continue to face recurring fuel shortages, which would have far-reaching consequences for the economy and the citizens. He also highlighted the high cost of local production, which is 15-20% higher than in other parts of the world, partly due to the burden of security on oil and gas companies.
Osifo called on the government to take over security responsibilities from investors, which would significantly reduce production costs. He also advocated for harsher penalties to deter oil theft and other bad behaviors, stressing the need for stronger laws and sanctions to ensure integrity within the industry.
