…As fuel imports remain in force-Major marketers
By Adewale Sanyaolu
The World Bank Group has lamented that businesses and investors perceive the policy environment in Nigeria to be holding back competition.
Senior Economist, World Bank Group, Samer Matta, stated this at the quarterly webinar organised by the Major Marketers Association of Nigeria(MEMAN) with the theme “Fair and Healthy Competition”.
Samer in his presentation titled “Catalysing Competition in Nigeria” said monopolies and market concentration remain pervasive in key Nigerian sectors.
On the existence of clear rules for stable, market-based competition table for 2024 which has 0 as lowest and 20 as highest, Nigeria ranked lowest, trailing behind others countries which included; Egypt, Ghana, Indonesia,India and South Africa.
Specifically, he said government protection does not promote refining efficiency nor does it deliver benefits to consumers.
According to him, refineries should be exposed to vigorous competition, warning that allowing only refineries to import products would eliminate competition from imports.
“The policy of allowing domestic refineries to supply the domestic market first and allowing imports only when there is a shortfall also goes against competition policy as contained in section 317 (9) in the PIA is misguided,’’.
Meanwhile, despite claims of self sufficiency in local refining capacity, the Major Energy Marketers Association of Nigeria (MEMAN), yesterday said importation of petroleum products is still fully in force.
Executive Secretary of MEMAN, Mr.Clement Isong, disclosed this at its press webinar and engagement .
Isong stated that while MEMAN members and other operators in the downstream sector currently patronise Dangote Refinery, fuel imports still remained an open option.
He added that stakeholders were fully in support of the Dangote Refinery and would always support the business to succeed.
On the rollout of 4,000 CNG trucks By Dangote Refinery, Isong said this remained a welcome development because CNG reduces logistics cost by about 40 per cent.
He noted that CNG being a policy of the Federal Government should be embraced by all stakeholders because it would go a long way in cutting cost of transportation.
He said MEMAN is already working on the adoption of CNG trucks.
However, he said the association is currently studying the CNG rollout initiative of Dangote Refinery and would make appropriate comments at the right time.
“There are a lot of things that are not yet clear about the initiative and it would be too hasty to make comments at this time. We are studying the situation and when we are fully clear, we would make our interventions,”
We are watching the trend and also trying to understand what the impact would be on the market because that requires a lot of discussions, which would involve Dangote and other stakeholders.
We are not clear if there would be an equalization policy; meaning the price would be the same across the country.
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