PETROAN Seeks ₦100 Billion Grant, Calls For The Privatization Of State-Owned Refineries 

The Petroluem Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), has requested ₦100bn grant from President Bola Tinubu to help oil marketers remain afloat.

They body also asked the Federal Government to privatise state-owned refineries.

In a release from the body entitled PETROAN’S Retrospect of Nigeria’s Oil and Gas Downstream Sector 2024, and made available to newsmen, the association listed several groundbreaking moves in the sector in the outgone year.

But it recommended the privatisation of “Nigerian-owned refineries, such as the Warri and Kaduna refineries, to reputable private companies to improve efficiency and reduce government spending”.

PETROAN in a statement signed by its President Billy Gillis-Harry, national secretary Adedibu Aderibigbe, and spokesman Joseph Obele, said the grant request is to avoid the closure of oil marketers’ businesses.

This, it said, is “to help prevent the closure of 10,000 marketers’ businesses. The request is in response to the threat of job losses that would result from the removal of the fuel subsidy.

The association called on authorities to work with “neighbouring countries to strengthen border security and prevent smuggling, and also utilize digital tracking systems to monitor petroleum products from refineries to retail outlets”.