Buhari ‘Sits’ On Fuel Scarcity Committee Report

President Muhammadu Buhari is alleged to be taking his time acting on a report submitted to him by a committee set up to find a lasting solution to the current nationwide fuel supply crisis.

The scarcity, the longest in the nation’s history, is now in its 13th week with no end in sight.

According to reports, the committee, headed by Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, was set up on January 2 by the president’s chief of staff, Abba Kyari on behalf of his principal.

The committee was made up of the director-general of the Department of State Security, Lawal Daura; NNPC GMD, Maikanti Baru; the chairman, Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPMAN) Dapo Abiodun; President, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) Chinedo Okonkwo, and representative of Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) Obafemi Olawore.

The committee has since met and submitted a report detailing what it believes to be the causes of the perennial shortage while also proffering lasting solutions.

“The committee met.

“At the end, it came up with a report, which made several proposals on the way out of the crisis. But, the understanding was for the President to see the report first, before the public. That report has since been submitted to the President. We are waiting for the Presidency to issue a directive,” a source told Premium Times.

“Some of the key proposals include immediate and holistic deregulation of the downstream sector of the petroleum industry; involvement of marketers in the fuel importation programme and plans to construct a refinery to end importation of petroleum products. There were other proposals,” he added.

The report contains legal changes only the National Assembly can effect while the executive also has a major role to play in the implementation of the report.

However, the process can only start on the go-ahead of the president and that is not forthcoming yet.

Speculation is rife this is because the president is avoiding a price hike and a backlash as the 2019 elections draw near.