The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is working to ensure that only quality fuel is imported and produced in the country, NNPC’s Group General Manager, Public Affairs Division, Ndu Ughamadu, has said.
The development, he said, was informed by the need to safeguard the health of Nigerians, who daily use fuel for domestic and industrial purposes.
In a chat with The Nation, he said it was government’s desire to bring fuel that is free from pollution into the country, adding that fuel with lower degree of sulphur will definitely help the country.
According to him, the NNPC is introducing low-sulphur fuel as replacement for the high-sulphur fuel believed to be highly inflammable and cause pollution, adding that the introduction of low sulphur fuel will help in preventing consumption of toxic fuel and pave way for healthy environment.
Ughamadu said the development became necessary in order to provide the much-needed benefits to consumers, adding that introducing low sulphuric contents into the market is sacrosanct.
According to him, the country failed to meet the July 2017 deadline to end importation of ‘dirty fuel’ because of the high cost of bringing in low sulphur product into the country, adding that the delay in importing low-sulphur fuel was caused by rising cost of importation of the product and discussions on the issue.
NNPC had extended approval for the refineries to standardise the production of low sulphur fuel by one more year, from 2020 to 2021. Prior to this, the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), has been campaigning for developing countries to place a ban on the importation of dirty fuel from Europe.
Developed and Western countries have long banned the importation of fuel with sulphur particles above 10 PPM.
In 2016, Ghana, Togo, Benin Republic, Ivory Coast and Nigeria had vowed to end the importation of what environmentalists described as ‘dirty fuel’ from Europe. Nigeria imports 60 per cent of West Africa’s fuel consumption.