By Tony Eluemunor

Why is the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)is being treated as umpire in this toxic petrol mess? It is at the heart of the scandal.

That press statement from the NNPC explaining what happened should have formed the take off point for our journalists to begin to ask questions; and such questions should be directed at the NNPC first and foremost. Or, why on earth would the NNPC have claimed that:(1) its standard keeper in Belgium does not check for the percentage of Methanol mixed into the imported fuel bound for Nigeria? And yet, in that same statement, NNPC claimed that (2) Methanol has been a usual additive to petrol? So, if methanol is usually added to petrol meant for Nigeria, is it not imperative that the level of such additives must be ascertained in every Nigeria-bound cargo? Or, is NNPC saying that the level of all other additives is not checked? If other ones are checked? Why would methanol be an exception? The reason must be deliberate for the NNPC folks are not stupid.

This is exactly what should have rung the alarm bell in every newsroom. I know nothing about the petroleum industry except that my class at Harvard once hosted Daniel Yergin, the author of the bestselling book,The Prize:The Epic Quest For Oil,Money and Power(“The Petroleum Century”) for three hours. The class received free copies of his book, a book that showcased the importance of the oil industry to the modern world. Meeting Daniel Yergin left a sore in my soul; that Nigeria has been wasting, and is still wasting, the scarce and highly valuable resource, God gifted it with.

Shamefully, the media has accepted the wild tale that the real issue here is the importation of petrol blended with a higher-than-normal percentage of Methanol, but that is just a part of the problem. At issue here is a national swindle so audacious that its height and width and depth has not been thought of at all. A befitting approach which our media men and women would have adopted is to suspect a gulf of sleaze so wide and deep, so gargantuan, that it would require special correspondents who have gained some appreciable expert knowledge in the workings of the oil industry to chart the way in discussing this scandal; people who would know the right questions to ask. Without such questions, Nigeria would never get the right answer.

Yet, instead of that, my fellow journalists surrendered all the initiative to NNPC and other government agencies and persons. See it this way please; if NNPC is involved in this scandal, why should it at the same time, be allowed to be prosecutor, the witness and the judge in a case in which it is also an accused? How will the truth ever surface?

Yet, Mr. President has also rightly directed that the suppliers of the substandard Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) otherwise called petrol, must be held accountable, in line with the law, service providers must make full disclosure of relevant information with respect to the consumption of their products and that dissatisfied consumers were entitled to a proper redress of their complaints.”Beautiful. You can’t fault that, on face value. But in essence, Nigerians would not know the agency to hold responsible if nothing is done in the end.
So, the president should have set up a commission of inquiry to get to the end of this appallingly dreadful matter with a deadline to submit its report. Unfortunately, he did not! Have we no shame as a nation? Concerned here is a delivery made as a part of a contractual agreement between some companies and the NNPC. Mr. President is Nigeria’s Oil Minister.

The Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, which he supervises, whether in theory or indeed, oversees and directs petroleum resources and its activities in Nigeria. And please, wait for this; the Ministry’s office is located at Block D, NNPC Towers, Herbert Macaulay way, CBD, Abuja, according to the Ministry’s internet entry. And NNPC has accepted that its own subsidiary, DUKE Oil imported toxic fuel. So, who is fooling whom?

Exculpating itself, NNPC has explained that: “It is important to note that the usual quality inspection protocol employed in both the load port in Belgium and our discharge ports in Nigeria do not include the test for percent methanol content and therefore the additive was not detected by our quality inspectors.” Why, should this be so, dear NNPC? If not, then NNPC is the real cause of the problem and the head-rolling should start from there. Second, The NNPC lied by this claim according to a news medium: “However, in order to prevent the distribution of the petrol, the NNPC CEO said the company promptly ordered the quarantine of all un-evacuated volumes and the holding back of all the affected products in transit.” So, none got to be sold?

And why would NNPC blame MRS Holdings? MRS company shot back: “The adulterated fuel was bought by Duke Oil from international trader, Litasco, and it has 20% methanol, an illegal substance in Nigeria, after it was delivered with Motor Tanker (MT) Nord Gainer.

“Following delivery into tank, it was observed that the product appeared hazy and dark.” MRS said, adding that “The product analysis revealed that the PMS discharged by MT Nord Ganier had 20% methanol, which is an illegal substance in Nigeria.

“As a Company, we are aware that alcohol/ethanol is not permitted to be mixed in PMS specification.”

How did the NNPC know of the adulterated petrol? It hasn’t said so. And why would it demonise MRS Petroleum company? Or did MRS Holdings refuse to play ball? Is NNPC saying that reports that OVH, MRS, NIPCO, ARDOVA and TOTAL also received the contaminated fuel from NNPC, after landing in Apapa between the 24th and 30th of January, 2022, false?

Though the NNPC gave the impression that not a drop of the tainted petrol got to a filling station, the President proved that a lie and commendably asked that those whose vehicles were damaged by the toxic petrol should be compensated.

Now, here is the real question: Is Methanal approved as additive in Nigeria? And by how much if it’s approved. Nigerians have been meant to pay more for petrol with every increase in crude oil price. Yet, if some petrol is brought in laced with 20% of methanol, which costs half the price of petrol, has the national not been swindled by the monetary sum of that 20%? It is that national swindle that I’m concerned about not the “methanol is a fuel additive” or “EU allows 2% of methanol in fuel” crap my colleagues have been blabbing about.

Over ten additives go into petrol to stop foaming, give it colour, etc. But methanol is not a standard additive. It’s gives less millage performance in a car, and yet, is cheaper than petrol. So, adding it to my petrol and charging me full price of petrol is pure theft. That’s why NNPC should be probed. But who will do it?

Vanguard News Nigeria