The Federal Government should try and deepen activities in the downstream sub-sector of the nation’s petroleum industry by creating a more conducive environment and infrastructure for operators, especially marketers, Vice Chairman, Southwest chapter of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Alhaji Debo Ahmed, has said.
The development, Alhaji Ahmed said, became necessary in order to drive the growth of the oil industry, which has been at the mercy of crude oil refining companies abroad. Many companies, he said, desire to establish refineries in order to improve local production and sales of fuel, but they are discouraged by poor operating environment in the country.
In an interview with the press, he said problems such as instability in the foreign exchange market, huge taxes collected by the governments and rising import duties, among others, are deterrents, which operators are running away from in the industry. Still on importation, Ahmed said fuel is imported with the dollar, adding that any country that has a weak currency is always at a disadvantage when it comes to importation.
Source: The Nation