Don’t play politics with oil sector reforms, APC tells opposition

The All Progressives Congress has appealed to members of the opposition to stop playing politics with the ongoing reforms in the oil and gas sector.

The Deputy National Publicity Secretary, APC, Yekini Nabena, made the appeal while speaking to journalists in Abuja on Sunday.

He explained that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led APC administration through the current management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation was determined to ensure that the ongoing reforms yielded the desired outcome of providing the country and Nigerians with the best of their God-given natural resources.

Nabena noted that the introduction of a new price regime for petrol had led to the technical liberalisation of the pricing of the commodity.

He said, “The administration’s efforts to sanitise and reform the oil sector should be supported by all well-meaning Nigerians. It is important that we don’t succumb to the temptation to play politics with the reforms in view of the strides that have been made so far.

“In a general appraisal of the oil sector reforms undertaken by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, an often downplayed achievement is the fact that, for a long time, Nigerians no longer have to waste valuable man hour queuing for petroleum products on account of scarcity.”

He added, “The positive effects of the oil sector reforms have been instant and visible. Fuel shortages and resultant queues, which were recurrent issues, have become a thing of the past.

“As the NNPC works to wholly meet the national petrol requirement due to the inability of private sector players to meet their supply quota, the increased private participation in our energy sector is set to increase our local refining base with the near launch of privately-owned and high capacity refineries. The resultant effect will be an end to the costly importation of refined petroleum products.”

While reacting to the $3.5bn fuel subsidy fund being probed by the Senate, Nabena said, “The achievements of the oil sector reforms bring to the fore erroneous insinuations of a $3.5bn subsidy fund, which some allege is in the NNPC’s custody.

“In the NNPC’s bid to stem petroleum product supply hiccups, the corporation initiated a revolving National Fuel Support Fund of $1.05bn, since the corporation is literally the sole importer and supplier of products in the country.

“The fund has been domiciled in the Central Bank of Nigeria ever since. The NNPC has not independently spent a dime of the fund, which is to ensure stability in petroleum products’ supply in the country. The fund has been jointly managed by the NNPC, the CBN, the Federal Ministry of Finance, the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, the Department of Petroleum Resources and the Petroleum Equalisation Fund.”

The Senate last week initiated a probe into the management of the $ 3.5bn subsidy fund, which it alleged was being managed by two persons within the NNPC