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Following the deregulation of the downstream petroleum business, the Federal Authorities has begun the method of closing down the Petroleum Equalization Fund, The PUNCH has learnt.
The transfer, it was gathered, was according to the provisions of the Petroleum Business Act 2021.
The PUNCH gathered the assembly held in Abuja between officers of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority and oil entrepreneurs on Wednesday deliberated on the closure of the fund.
The officers and entrepreneurs mentioned the reconciliation of the PEF accounts and plans to shut it within the subsequent one month.
“The assembly was a session with the NMDPRA on implementation of the PIA, clarifications of varied points, making use of for licences, high quality points and closure of the Petroleum Equalization Fund,” a former Chairman of Main Oil Entrepreneurs Affiliation of Nigeria, Tunji Oyebanji, informed The PUNCH in a phone interview.
“Some individuals owe PEF and it additionally owes some individuals. There’s a want for reconciliation to shut out the account,” Oyebanji defined.
Fashioned in 2021, NMDPRA encompasses a merger of three defunct regulatory businesses: Petroleum Merchandise Pricing Regulatory Company, Petroleum Equalization Fund {Administration} Board, and the Midstream and Downstream Divisions of the Division of Petroleum Sources.
The Nationwide Controller of Operations, Impartial Petroleum Entrepreneurs Affiliation of Nigeria, Mike Osatuyi, additionally informed The PUNCH that the Fund at present owes its members about N80bn.
“We don’t owe the Fund as a result of earlier than you raise merchandise, you’ll have made deposits. However the Fund owes us N80bn which might be paid earlier than the closure. The cash piled up over a while nevertheless it has stopped piling up. The position performed by the Fund has ended upon the total deregulation of the downstream sector as acknowledged within the PIA,” Osatuyi stated.
He confirmed that IPMAN was additionally invited to reconcile its account with the Fund.
“No want for the Fund once more since now we have deregulated. We don’t know when the cash they owe us could be paid however it might be paid earlier than the accounts are ultimately closed. The method has began and our members have been invited,” he added.
PEF was arrange by Decree 9 of 1975 (as amended by Decree Quantity 32 of 1989 now chapter 352 of the Legal guidelines of the Federation). Its primary perform was to make sure worth uniformity of petroleum merchandise through the reimbursement of entrepreneurs for losses they incurred in trucking merchandise from depots to their filling stations anyplace in Nigeria.
A supply within the Depots and Petroleum Merchandise Entrepreneurs Affiliation of Nigeria additionally confirmed that its members have been invited for the reconciliation assembly.
“We already know the closing of the Fund would occur, they usually have informed us that it has even closed. We at the moment are on the stage the place our members and different depot homeowners are being invited to reconcile the account. They knowledgeable us that the account could be closed within the subsequent 20 days, ranging from yesterday (Wednesday) when the assembly was held,” the supply informed The PUNCH.
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