The directive of Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari that producers and providers of the dirty fuel be held accountable for substandard services and products sold by them is one of the leading stories in Nigerian newspapers on Friday.
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The Guardian reports that nearly a week after the country almost ran aground owing to the withdrawal of large amount of contaminated petrol across states, President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, weighed in on the crisis by ordering that producers and providers of the dirty fuel be held accountable for substandard services and products sold by them. The President also directed the relevant government agencies to take every step in line with the laws of the country to ensure the respect and protection of consumers against market abuses and social injustices. In a reaction to the issue of petroleum product shortages linked to the infiltration of adulterated petrol into Nigeria, President Buhari said the protection of consumer interests is a priority of the administration and is ready to take all necessary measures to protect consumers from hazardous products, loss or injuries from the consumption of substandard goods. A statement signed by Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, quoted the President as also directing service providers to make full disclosure of relevant information with respect to the consumption of their products, adding that dissatisfied consumers are entitled to a proper redress in line with the law. Recall that over 100 milion litres of adulterated fuel had found its way into the Nigerian market, prompting scarcity of the product as government regulatory agencies tried to mop up the bad product from the system. The states, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Kogi, Nasarawa and Niger, would require over 300, 000 meters, the new management at the distribution company said in a media engagement in Abuja, on Wednesday. Metering remains a basic challenge in the electricity market in the country as utility companies struggle to cover the gap eight years after the sector was handed over to private investors. At least 8.1 million of the country’s current 12.8 million customers are unmetered according to data from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has shown. According to NERC, only about 4.66 million end-users, representing 36 per cent of the entire pool, had been fully metered at the end of November 2021. While the government has intervened with a metering programme funded with loans from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), attaining the targets of the plan remains slow. Chief Business Officer at the company, Sani Usman said the company would look at many options instead of relying solely on government’s intervention. According to the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, banks must begin to source their forex from export proceeds, hence the need to support non-oil exporters in the country. He pointed out that the decision was in line with the apex bank’s new commitment to boost the country’s foreign reserves through proceeds from non-oil exports. He made this known at a press briefing on the launch of the bank’s new forex repatriation scheme, RT200 held after the Bankers’ Committee meeting on Thursday in Abuja. RT200 which stands for Race to $200bn is a set of policies, plans and programmes for non-oil exports that will enable the country to generate $200bn in forex repatriation, exclusively from non-oil exports, over the next three to five years, according to the governor. Under the programme, which is to take effect immediately, the apex bank will provide concessionary and long-term loans for businesses interested in expanding existing plants or building new ones for the sole purpose of adding significant value to the non-oil commodities before exporting same. |
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GIK/APA