Due to the high expense of delivering energy supplies to certain regions of the nation, the House of Representatives has ordered the Nigerian Ports Authority to “urgently” carry out comprehensive dredging of petroleum products shipping lanes in Nigerian coastlines.
The Ports and Harbor and Petroleum Resources (Downstream) committees of the House were additionally instructed to oversee adherence to the resolution and provide a report within four weeks for additional legislative action.
The resolution was based on the unanimous adoption of a motion moved by a member, Sergius Ogun, at the plenary on Tuesday, titled ‘Need to Reduce the Cost of Transporting Petroleum Products by Dredging the Petroleum Products Shipping Channel in Nigerian Coastlines.’
Ogun, who proposed the motion, pointed out that Section 16 (1)(b) of the 1999 Constitution mandates that the state control the national economy in order to ensure the maximum welfare, freedom, and happiness of every citizen based on social justice, equality of status and opportunity, and other factors.
He claimed that the federal government intended to eliminate some cost lines from the current Petroleum Motoring Spirit pricing structure, which he claimed would inevitably drive up the price of petroleum goods.
The congressman pointed out that one reason for Nigerians’ high cost of access to petroleum products is the insufficient or poor dredging of petroleum product shipping channels along the country’s coastline.
According to Ogun, Section 7 of the Nigerian Ports Authority Act gives the NPA, among other things, the duty of ensuring effective administration of port operations and the upkeep of all Nigerian ports and territorial seas.
The lawmaker said, “The House is concerned that if the government goes ahead with its plans to remove some cost line items on the existing PMS pricing template, the petroleum products marketers will have no choice but to increase its price, which will result in a hike in the price of petroleum products and bring more hardship upon Nigerians.”
