The Central Bank of Nigeria has revealed that concerns are mounting up over the number of oil theft cases across the country and how it affects the distribution of fuel in Nigeria.
The CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele disclosed this at the 141th Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja where he also revealed that the members of the policy committee agreed to maintain all monetary policy parameters, including the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) at 11.5 per cent; asymmetric corridor of +100/-700 basis points around the MPR; the CRR at 27.5 per cent; and Liquidity Ratio at 30 per cent. This is also coming amidst high inflation rates in Nigeria alongside an ongoing fuel scarcity.
The CBN governor, however, pointed out that curbing crude oil theft is essential to reduce fuel scarcity in Nigeria as he noted that this affects Nigeria’s global oil quota in the Organisation of Oil Exporting Countries (OPEC).
To that effect, the Apex Bank will be meeting with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) and the Ministry of Finance Budget and National Planning to work out a resolution for ending the fuel scarcity which is negatively impacting prices of goods and services.
Emefiele also keyed into the global oil crisis that was the aftermath of Russia’s invasion in Ukraine. He revealed that the crisis has affected global energy and has led to global shortage.
Speaking at the committee meeting, the CBN governor said: “the MPC is worried about global shortage of petroleum products. This has led to inflation. MPC is seeking ways to address this. “Nigeria exports crude oil and imports refined and this means we have to pay for imports. The committee noted the reduction in foreign reserves. The committee is also worried about oil theft and its effects on the economy. But we’re hopeful that the coming into operations of Dangote Refinery will help in ensuring fuel availability. The coming into operations of the entire Dangote complex will save Nigeria 30 per cent of the cost of importing the items produced in the complex.
We were told that the Finance Ministry and NNPC are holding a meeting on the scarcity challenge. We too will be engaging the NNPC as well to see ways of making it easy for them to end fuel shortage which has led to arbitrary pricing. The rising price of diesel has led to poor electricity. We are working to put things under control. Food inflation declined due to good harvest.”