NNPC Monopoly on Petrol Importation Causing Crisis in Supply – Oyebanji

The Managing Director of 11 Plc who is also the past Chairman of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) Dr. Tunji Oyebanji has blamed the current fuel crisis being experienced nationwide on the situation whereby the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) assumed the role of being the sole importer of the Premium Motor Spirit otherwise known as Petrol.

Oyebanji said that the current fuel Supply crisis in Nigeria has once again reaffirmed the previous call to break the monopoly of NNPC being a sole importer of Petrol in Nigeria.

“This is why we have always advocated for the full deregulation of the industry, so that there will be many suppliers in the country. Today there is only one supplier which is NNPC. This is not an ideal situation.” Oyebanji said.

Speaking recently at the yearly dinner of the Institute of Change Management (ICM) tagged “Impact of insecurity and oil subsidy on Nigeria’s economy” in Lagos, the 11Plc Managing Director said that in any market where a monopoly of Supply exist there is always a hiccup.

Furthermore, Oyebanji maintained that payment of fuel subsidy is preventing managers of Nigeria’s economy from investing in critical sectors of the economy that would have changed the economic narrative of the country over the years.

According to him the absence of investment in the sector by investors due to subsidy is fueling the high rate of unemployment despite Nigeria’s young growing population.

“A lot of people do not have jobs. There is a lot of unemployment in the land and this is leading to insecurity and if we do not change the narrative, such that the money we are spending on subsidies is channeled into productive areas of the economy, the economy will not grow at the pace that it needs to grow. For instance, today our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is barely breaking even whereas our population continues to increase by three per cent and when you have this kind of situation, what you end up having is a lot of unemployment and by extension, insecurity” he said.