By joshua 
Uzo Nwogu
A retired Deputy Director of the Department of Petroleum Resources, Engineer Sunday Babalola, has urged the Central Bank of Nigeria led by Mr. Godwin Emefiele and the Federal Government under President Muhammadu Buhari to implement policies that will boost the foreign exchange earning propensity of Nigeria.
He stated that to address increases in the prices of petroleum products in Nigeria and possible looming shortage of petroleum products, it was imperative for the productive sector to be strengthened so that Nigeria will produce more, sell to the international community and earn sufficient foreign exchange needed for the country’s international trade exchange.
Babalola, who is also a former acting Managing Director of Belemaoil Nigeria Limited and currently, Director of All Grace Energy, in an interview on Wednesday in Lagos, also lamented that Nigeria was not producing much to compete favourable in the foreign exchange dynamics.
He said, “When you look at the depot fees, you can not blame them when you consider that they use foreign exchange to buy PMS which is sold to us. But that actually shows the weakness in Nigeria. Nigeria does not produce much and we import almost everything. There will therefore be the need for doreign exchange and that is the bane of our society.
I wish people in government can enunciate policies that would help the productive sector of the economy and this foreign exchange issue will go down or it will disappear altogether.
“We need to go back to the beginning of the problem by ensuring that the productive sector is active. As long as we are not producing, the foreign exchange earnings will be very low. It is an economic truth. Since we produce crude oil, we sell it outside and we use the money to import white products, it means we have done nothing. It is energy wasted. No work done! And that is why we are having this problem of foreign exchange. When scarcity comes, it will waste people’s time and resources because then, people will queue for white products for hours if not for days and the time n spent is already wasted time.
“Government should come up with policies that will help the productive sector so that we will not be in this mess again. As long as we have the foreign exchange problem, we will keep having the problems we are having whether it is in the petroleum industry or other industries.
“Government should adopt policies that will stop high exchange rate to forestall crises in the oil sector, fuel scarcity, queues at the petrol stations and problems.
“It should support efforts that will encourage local manufacturing so that we will have a productive economy.Our economy today is not productive. Everybody will go and import things and foreign exchange is needed for that and we are not United States of America.”
Though the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, NNPC, Malam Garba Deen Muhammad, had said there is sufficient products that can last over 30 days, and said it was unnecessary for people to panick due to the change that followed the reformsin the sector, fears are rife of possible increment in the prices of Premium Motor Spirit, (PMS) popularly called petrol and looming petrol scarcity in the country.
It was gathered that some states and cities had already experienced fuel scarcity.
It was learnt that the development may not be unconnected with increment of the price of PMS from N148 to N157 per litre in some parts of the country in private deports of the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria as currently exchange rate hover at N570 per dollar in the black market.
It could be recalled that currently, NNPC, is still the sole importer of the product to Nigeria which has enabled the government to subsidise petroleum products.
It was learnt that private depot owners take the delivery of the product from the NNPC at the high seas and incur the additional cost of utilising vessels to take the product to their depots.
They complained that payment of the vessels is done in dollars, which they source at the cost of N570 per dollar, consequently bear additional cost which would not be recovered at the current regulated price of PMS.
Sources said marketers, especially members of Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), who lift 90 per cent of their PMS from the depots, owned by DAPPMAN members of Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria, are discouraged.
There are concerns that such depot price increment may trigger an increment in the price of PMS.
IPMAN’s National Operations Controller, Mike Osatuyi, was quoted to have confirmed the development.
He said. “We are aware of the development because our members procure about 90 per cent of supplies from DAPPMAN members. We are currently reluctant to lift for now. But very soon, we would be compelled to sell at a higher price because we have to recover the costs.
“Our reluctance is based on the fact that the government would not allow us to sell in excess of the regulated above the regulated band of between N162-N165 per litre.”