Executive Secretaries, Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency [Established 2003]
*Dr. Oluwole Oluleye - June 2003- July 2009
*Mr. Abiodun Ibikunle - July 2009 - February 2011
*Engineer Goody Chike Egbuji - February 2011 - November 2011
*Mr. Reginald Stanley - November 2011 - present
Note: Chairman PPPRA Board
* Chief Rasheed Gbadamosi, May 2003 – December 2009 [Was Chairman of predecessor PPPRC from March 2001]
*Dr. Ahmadu Ali, - December 2009 - to date
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Speech by the outgoing chairman of the petroleum products pricing regulatory agency (pppra), Chief Rasheed Gbadamosi, OFR, on the occasion of the handover ceremony to the newly appointed board chairman, senator (Dr) Amadu a. Ali, fss, GCON, held on Tuesday, 22nd december, 2009 at the PPPRA headquarters, Cadastral Zone, Central District, Abuja.
The Newly Appointed Chairman of the Governing Board, The Executive Secretary and the Management Team, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, Compliments of the Season!
The event that brings us together here today represent a unique moment in the history of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), this being the first handover ceremony from one Board Chairman to another. What is more gratifying for me about this event is that I will be handing-over to a distinguished Nigerian in the person of Senator (Dr.) Amadu A. Ali, fss, GCON; whom I first met in 1973 when he assumed duty as the pioneer Director of the then newly established National Youth Service Corp, (NYSC) Scheme. I recalled the passion with which Dr. Ali took up the appointment and how he felt very strongly that the graduates of the NYSC Scheme would become the guarantors of Nigeria's future, a vision that had come to pass. Since that first encounter and subsequent ones in the corridors of power, I have come to regard Dr. Ali as an outstanding Nigerian, highly dependable and of proven integrity.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, permit me to go down memory lane by recalling the events that brought about my being the pioneer Chairman of the Governing Board of the PPPRA. It all started in late 1999, when the then President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, GCFR, requested that I chair a 34-Member Special Committee on the Review of Petroleum Products Supply and Distribution, (SCRPPSD). This Committee, which was mandated to examine the problems of the downstream petroleum sector and proffer solutions, was inaugurated on 14th August 2000 and it submitted its report in October 2000. Highlights of the recommendations of the Committee included the deregulation of the sub-sector; enthronement of import parity system in the pricing of petroleum products; privatization of Government refineries and encouraging the establishment of private refineries; adoption of the Open-Access regime for the pipelines, jetties and depots, as well as the setting up of a Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Committee (PPPRC) with sufficient autonomy to superintend the various phases of the proposal embodied in the report.
Upon acceptance of these recommendations, Mr. President was again gracious to have asked me to become the Chairman of the PPPRC following its setting up on the 22nd March, 2001. It was this Committee that began to implement the reform agenda for the downstream sub-sector before it later metamorphosed into the PPPRA through an Act of the National Assembly in May 2003 with myself as Chairman and all the Board members retained.
From the PPPRC to the PPPRA, we had been fully engaged in activities consistent with our mandate of transforming the hitherto deteriorated downstream sub-sector to a vibrant and sustainable one. Although the gain of achieving full deregulation in October 2003 could not be sustained because of the continuous rise and volatility experienced during the period, the embarrassing experiences of long queues, black marketeering, products adulteration and smuggling were all effectively controlled until they began to rear their heads recently. During the period 2001 to 2008, the sector witnessed a number of achievements some of which were: products availability nationwide; massive investments in downstream logistic facilities; greater participation by other Stakeholders in products procurement, storage and distribution; creation of a level playing field; employment generation; enhanced government revenue; value added service at pump stations; increased activities for the establishment of new refineries; as well as effective exercise of mediatory role among stakeholders for serenity in the industry.
The Agency has had to, aside success stories, contend with some constraints in the course of discharging its mandate in the past decade. These constraints include among others low contribution by the domestic refineries, inadequate imports reception/discharge facilities thus constituting a major bottleneck to products supply in the country, as well as high volatility of oil price in 2007 and 2008, which led to a very high level of subsidy for products procurement under the Petroleum Support Fund (PSF). For the three years consecutively, the subsidy funding was higher than the nation's budget for capital expenditure. Other constraints were the non-implementation of the proposed Open-Access, Common-Carrier regime and the non-release of the budgeted amount into the PSF Account with the CBN on a monthly basis, which constrained all the products suppliers and the resultant glitches in the sector. There was also the stiff resistance to the deregulation policy by the Organised Labour Group.
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, I wish I could say that the toughest days in our collective resolve at enthroning a market driven, strong, and vibrant downstream sub-sector of the petroleum industry are behind us, considering the tortuous and challenging moments we had oscillating between the trenches and the boardrooms, in our attempt to build consensus on the deregulation policy. But in many ways, I think the coming months are going to be equally hard. If we have learned anything from the previous attempt to deregulate the downstream sub-sector of the petroleum industry, it is that we cannot afford to lose focus for even a moment, otherwise the gains achieved over the years could be wiped out completely.
I would want to conclude by saying a word of thanks to Senator (Dr.) Amadu Ali for stepping up to this great challenge. You have done an outstanding job of serving this nation in various capacities in the past decade. And as always, you have done the job with great commitment. I am convinced that this assignment will not be different. I would especially like to thank the management and staff of the PPPRA for their valued support and co-operation during my stewardship. Senator (Dr.) Amadu Ali, as I pass on the baton, I wish you every success in this new national assignment and demand all those who had supported and cooperated with me to extend similar gesture to you. I want to assure all of you that, wherever the future will take me, the PPPRA will always find in me a steadfast friend and supporter. Thank you all and God Bless.
The Newly Appointed Chairman of the Governing Board, The Executive Secretary and the Management Team, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, Compliments of the Season!
The event that brings us together here today represent a unique moment in the history of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), this being the first handover ceremony from one Board Chairman to another. What is more gratifying for me about this event is that I will be handing-over to a distinguished Nigerian in the person of Senator (Dr.) Amadu A. Ali, fss, GCON; whom I first met in 1973 when he assumed duty as the pioneer Director of the then newly established National Youth Service Corp, (NYSC) Scheme. I recalled the passion with which Dr. Ali took up the appointment and how he felt very strongly that the graduates of the NYSC Scheme would become the guarantors of Nigeria's future, a vision that had come to pass. Since that first encounter and subsequent ones in the corridors of power, I have come to regard Dr. Ali as an outstanding Nigerian, highly dependable and of proven integrity.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, permit me to go down memory lane by recalling the events that brought about my being the pioneer Chairman of the Governing Board of the PPPRA. It all started in late 1999, when the then President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, GCFR, requested that I chair a 34-Member Special Committee on the Review of Petroleum Products Supply and Distribution, (SCRPPSD). This Committee, which was mandated to examine the problems of the downstream petroleum sector and proffer solutions, was inaugurated on 14th August 2000 and it submitted its report in October 2000. Highlights of the recommendations of the Committee included the deregulation of the sub-sector; enthronement of import parity system in the pricing of petroleum products; privatization of Government refineries and encouraging the establishment of private refineries; adoption of the Open-Access regime for the pipelines, jetties and depots, as well as the setting up of a Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Committee (PPPRC) with sufficient autonomy to superintend the various phases of the proposal embodied in the report.
Upon acceptance of these recommendations, Mr. President was again gracious to have asked me to become the Chairman of the PPPRC following its setting up on the 22nd March, 2001. It was this Committee that began to implement the reform agenda for the downstream sub-sector before it later metamorphosed into the PPPRA through an Act of the National Assembly in May 2003 with myself as Chairman and all the Board members retained.
From the PPPRC to the PPPRA, we had been fully engaged in activities consistent with our mandate of transforming the hitherto deteriorated downstream sub-sector to a vibrant and sustainable one. Although the gain of achieving full deregulation in October 2003 could not be sustained because of the continuous rise and volatility experienced during the period, the embarrassing experiences of long queues, black marketeering, products adulteration and smuggling were all effectively controlled until they began to rear their heads recently. During the period 2001 to 2008, the sector witnessed a number of achievements some of which were: products availability nationwide; massive investments in downstream logistic facilities; greater participation by other Stakeholders in products procurement, storage and distribution; creation of a level playing field; employment generation; enhanced government revenue; value added service at pump stations; increased activities for the establishment of new refineries; as well as effective exercise of mediatory role among stakeholders for serenity in the industry.
The Agency has had to, aside success stories, contend with some constraints in the course of discharging its mandate in the past decade. These constraints include among others low contribution by the domestic refineries, inadequate imports reception/discharge facilities thus constituting a major bottleneck to products supply in the country, as well as high volatility of oil price in 2007 and 2008, which led to a very high level of subsidy for products procurement under the Petroleum Support Fund (PSF). For the three years consecutively, the subsidy funding was higher than the nation's budget for capital expenditure. Other constraints were the non-implementation of the proposed Open-Access, Common-Carrier regime and the non-release of the budgeted amount into the PSF Account with the CBN on a monthly basis, which constrained all the products suppliers and the resultant glitches in the sector. There was also the stiff resistance to the deregulation policy by the Organised Labour Group.
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, I wish I could say that the toughest days in our collective resolve at enthroning a market driven, strong, and vibrant downstream sub-sector of the petroleum industry are behind us, considering the tortuous and challenging moments we had oscillating between the trenches and the boardrooms, in our attempt to build consensus on the deregulation policy. But in many ways, I think the coming months are going to be equally hard. If we have learned anything from the previous attempt to deregulate the downstream sub-sector of the petroleum industry, it is that we cannot afford to lose focus for even a moment, otherwise the gains achieved over the years could be wiped out completely.
I would want to conclude by saying a word of thanks to Senator (Dr.) Amadu Ali for stepping up to this great challenge. You have done an outstanding job of serving this nation in various capacities in the past decade. And as always, you have done the job with great commitment. I am convinced that this assignment will not be different. I would especially like to thank the management and staff of the PPPRA for their valued support and co-operation during my stewardship. Senator (Dr.) Amadu Ali, as I pass on the baton, I wish you every success in this new national assignment and demand all those who had supported and cooperated with me to extend similar gesture to you. I want to assure all of you that, wherever the future will take me, the PPPRA will always find in me a steadfast friend and supporter.
Thank you all and God Bless.
___________________________________________________________________________________
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