ABUJA (Sundiata Post) – The House of Representatives has charged the security agencies, and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), as well as other relevant agencies, to clampdown on those hoarding the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).
The chairman, House Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), Ikenga Ugochinyere, gave the charge, at a joint press conference, with the chairman, House Committee on Petroleum (Midstream), Odianose Okojie, yesterday, in Abuja.
However, he explained that investigations also revealed that supply and distribution to marketers were disrupted by logistics challenges. According to him, the parliament had been assured that the challenges had been addressed and that the fuel queues would disappear in the next few days.
According to him, “We have, in the last few days, reached out to the stakeholders in the distribution value chain; the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), and the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), and engaged extensively with them, with a view to ascertaining the cause of the resurgence of fuel queues across the country.
“We, hereby, express our concerns over the temporary presence of fuel queues in petrol stations across the country. This has adversely affected the lives and businesses of Nigerians across the country. As elected representatives of the Nigerian people, we are greatly disturbed by this development. However, we are convinced that this is temporary, and in a couple of days, we shall get over it.
“From our investigations, we have found out that there is availability of petrol products. We have on good authority that we have in our storage facilities, at least, about 1.5 billion litres of petrol that can last for 30 days. It is, however, saddening to note that it is as a result of logistics that the queues have resurfaced. These logistics issues range from difficulty in transporting products from the mother vessel to the respective petrol stations, movement of products from offshore marine vessels to the stations, and disruption from Escravos channels.”
“At this juncture, we strongly frown at the activities of middlemen, who have taken advantage of the short disruption of supply, to maximise profit and generate inordinate gain for themselves, at the detriment of our people. We, hereby, call on the security forces to support the NNPCL, NMDPRA, PETROAN, NARTO and other key stakeholders in the distribution chain, so as to ensure that acts of economic sabotage that has to do with hoarding, arbitrary increment in price, products diversion and smuggling, are detected and dealt with.
“Our people have been through a lot in the last few days, and we must not plunge them into further pains. We appeal to all traders and those rendering services, not to unduly take advantage of this temporary challenge, which will be cleared in the next few days.”
