—Claims fuel queues are ‘thing of the past’
Oscarline Onwuemenyi 25 February 2014, Sweetcrude, Abuja – The out-going Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), Mr Reginald Stanley has disclosed that activities of the agency had attracted investments worth over N70 billion to the Nigerian economy in the past two years.
Stanley made the disclosure on Tuesday in Abuja at a ceremony to handover to the new PPPRA Executive Secretary, Mr Farouk Ahmed.
He noted that in the past 24 months, over N70 billion has been invested in the downstream.
“Many depots and jetties have been built by private initiatives, thereby generating thousands of jobs in the Nigerian economy,” he stated.
Stanley said that the performance by the PPPRA demonstrated that President Goodluck Jonathan’s Transformation Agenda was working and had successfully worked in the PPPRA.
The out-going PPPRA chief thanked Jonathan for giving him an opportunity to serve and the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, for creating a congenial atmosphere that made him to perform.
Stanley also thanked labour unions in the downstream for the industrial harmony recorded during his tenure.
He said that his efforts at the PPPRA had paid off in the stability witnessed in the downstream in recent years.
“One of the most remarkable achievements of my time was the stability of supply, which was driven by the issuance of laycans to marketers.
“During this period queues became a thing of the past. Nigerians no longer kept vigil at filling stations in their bid to purchase fuel.
“Today, the downstream has been completely sanitised. PPPRA’s processes and procedures are all aligned to global best practices. This has engendered confidence, transparency and accountability.” he stated.
Stanley further noted that the PPPRA under his watch was able to reduce daily fuel consumption from 60.25 million litres per day in 2011 to 39.79 million litres per day in 2012.
According to him, the agency in 2013 recorded 42.11 million litres per day, which was 18.14 million litres per day less than what was recorded in 2011
“What is so spectacular of the 2013 consumption is that it showed a modest increase of 5.5 per cent on the 2012 figure in an economy growing at 6.9 per cent per annum.
“Statistically, gasoline consumption tracks the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth very closely. Therefore, this was an excellent result.
“Equally arising from this reduction in volume of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) is the huge savings to the subsidy payment of N409B in 2012 and N326.57B in 2013,” he noted.
Analysts have praised Stanley for the transparency, integrity and sense of purpose recorded in the PPPRA during his short tenure.
Ahmed in his remarks, pledge the agency’s commitment to ensuring the success of the Federal Government’s Transformation Agenda in the oil sector.
“We must ensure that PPPRA imbibes best practices in order to ensure the success of the transformation agenda of Mr President in the oil sector.
The new PPPRA helmsman commended his predecessor for the structure he put in place to accelerate the transformation of the agency and the downstream.
He solicited the support of PPPRA’s workers in achieving his goal of consolidating the achievement of his predecessor and sustaining market stability.
“We shall continue from where you stopped, we will add value to certain obligations in order to meet the expectations of stakeholders and Nigerians in general.
“I urge staff to work with honesty and fear of God so that the confidence and trust of Nigerians would not be compromised
“I do not tolerate gossip and sycophancy. I am a professional and want to remain so. Anybody that does not want to join in the task ahead should please give way,” he warned.