PIB implementation should not increase hardship on Nigerians, IPMAN tells FG

National Deputy President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Alhaji Debo Ahmed, has urged the Federal Government led by President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure that the implementation of the recently passed Petroleum Industry Bill will not increase hardship on Nigerians.

In an interview on Monday, he urged the FG to manage well the PIB implementation, given the falling standard of naira to the dollar.

He noted that with the falling standard of naira to the dollar, and the commercialisation of petroleum products because of PIB implementation, prices of imported products will increase.

He, therefore, urged the FG to implement some palliatives to cushion the possible harsh effects of the implementation of the PIB.

He said, “The PIB is long overdue and we are lucky it is coming out this time but the government should know how to manage it because change is a difficult thing in human life. We have been in this subsidy regime for almost 46 years, since 1975 and petrol has been subsidised for Nigerians. Nigerians have been used to it. So since it is going to be commercialised where it is going to be a full market, the management of that change should be well articulated by the government. It is not easy presently with Nigerians moreso that the dollar is rising. If not because the government is using a lot of money to subsidise, many more people would have been crying.

“Immediately this PIB comes up and it is commercialised, petroleum prices will tend to increase so the government should know how they will manage it. And whatever they have as a result of this PIB being practicalities, they should use it for the benefit of the masses such that a lot of things can be subsidised for the masses. Even agricultural products can be subsidised. The government can increase agricultural equipment importation. Also, a lot of cooperative societies can have access to equipment and other incentives so that they can go into farming and a lot of things will be done with the money. Nigerians are already crying from far off.”

He added, “Since we will be going out of fossil oil, the government can as much as possible ensure that the gas prices do not escalate. Cooking gas and autogas must be available and cheap at all times because if they are not cheap, people will not even patronise them.

“We are lucky now that many Nigerians are enlightened and many of them are on gas, except in the villages. Villagers are not using it because it is not available. By the time it gets to that place, everything will be okay and people will tend to use gas than other energy materials like coal etc.

“The effect of the PIB on the populace is that the naira is falling, everything depends on the naira/dollar exchange rate. We are importing, so definitely petroleum products will be higher. So if the prices are high, it will affect every economic activity. The common men in Nigeria are already boxed to the corner and they will find it difficult to manage.

“But if the government can bring out succour such that they can have some respite, it will lessen the hardship they are going to experience. The succour should be in the aspect of having government transportation at reduced price which could take care of some pressing issues of economic and human activities and some other social amenities. Government can subsidise certain amenities.”

He stated that the PIB is intended to protect the oil industry, develop the host communities and ensure harmonious relationships among the stakeholders in the oil industry.

According to him, the three per cent revenue for host communities in the bill should not cause disaffection between oil-bearing communities and those that the pipelines passed through.

Ahmed said, “The host communities have been put into the bill. Those host or oil-bearing communities that are prospecting oil have 13 per cent derivation because they are definitely different from those that the pipelines passed through. The host community as an entity is part of the PIB institutional government, as it is aimed to create an environment that will be good for petroleum product operation.”