- LUPAN Seeks End to 10k Charge on Base Oil
The Lubricant Producers Association of Nigeria has called on the Federal Government to intervene in facilitating the cessation of the demand by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency for an administration charge of 10 kobo per litre of base oil imported.
The lubricant producers are also seeking an end to other arbitrary charges, levies, and taxes by various unauthorised agencies.
The Executive Secretary, LUPAN, Emeka Obidike, in a letter addressed to Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, said, “Manufacturers have been tasked with the payment of levies, charges dues, or the demand for certification or licensing, all on a single product – base oil – by various, and in some cases unauthorised, agencies under spurious administrative jurisdictions, designations and initiatives.”
According to him, base oil is 100 per cent imported and attracts a duty of five per cent, with its pricing subject to market forces.
He said administrative and bureaucratic bottlenecks as well as series of certification, authorisation and clearance by relevant and, more often, unauthorised agencies with their attendant fees, levies, charges, duties and taxes were detrimental to the businesses of manufacturers.
These, according to Obidike, increase the expenses and other ancillary costs connected to receiving the product and significantly inflate the market cost of locally made lubricants.
He said, “The PPPRA, on the heels of the DPR’s activities, arrives with a modus operandi similar, albeit more complicated, to that of the DPR’s, with their officials and independent (operators) who, more often, are not punctual in discharging their duties and services.
“Operators are compelled to furnish documents and certification, most of which are not applicable and, in most cases, alien to the business of base oil importation on pain of having their vessels held up.”
