On Tuesday 16th January 2024, at the PRA Head Office, Tower Hill, the Executive Chairman of the institution, Baluwa Koroma, updated the media on its 5 years Journey since appointed by His Excellence President Bio, noting that the Petroleum Regulatory Agency was established by an act of Parliament in 2014 to grant licenses and regulate the downstream sector.
Chairman Baluwa maintained that over the years, the entity lacked the required leadership needed to realize its full potential, despite its revenue potential. Furthering that having been in the corporate world for years, with outstanding and remarkable performance, he was appointed as the Executive Chairman of PRA by His Excellence President Julius Maada Bio, to be part of the New Direction’s transformation drive; an appointment that has added feather to the cap of the government’s revenue mobilization initiative.
Baluwa Koroma highlighted some of his achievements during his journey, disclosing that before now, little or nothing was known about the performance of the downstream sector and the untapped opportunities available for investors, adding that since transparency and accountability are the mantra of the New Direction, petroleum revenue under the dynamic his watch increased from Le473 billion in 2018 to Le1 trillion in 2023.
He furthered that as fuel is being considered as a political commodity, which has the tendency to make any government unpopular, yet, despite the volatility and unpredictable of the sector that sometimes affects both producers and importers, the sector has been able to make fuel available in 415 gas stations across the country, since 2018.
Chairman Baluwa maintained that the PRA’s importation grew by 125% from 340,060 metric tons in 2018 to 525,000 metric tons in 2023. He assured the media and the nation that there is 10,000 metric tons for statistics storage as the country’s policy development, which will serve the country for almost two weeks, if there’s any emergency of fuel shortage
He concluded that there will be no increment on fuel prices this January, stressing that they have enough fuel to serve Sierra Leoneans for the whole of this month.