FUEL SCARCITY: Kachikwu disagrees with NNPC, DPR, says marketers not to blame

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, has all but exonerated marketers from any blame in the scarcity of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) also known as petrol in the country during the Yuletide period.

According to him, there is no evidence to show that the marketers are hoarding the product, and as such, there is no reason to punish them.

This is contrary to claims by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) which had both fingered marketers in the scarcity of fuel which marred the Yuletide celebrations for Nigerians.

Both agencies which are under the supervision of Kachikwu had even stated that some marketers in some parts of the country had been caught hoarding the products, and that they would be sanctioned.

Kachikwu at a meeting between a Federal Government delegation led by the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, and fuel marketers as well the heads of the Department of State Services and the Nigeria Immigration Service, and representatives of other paramilitary services, on Tuesday in Abuja, said “this is a democratic government. I don’t have one (evidence) yet; if you have one, I will like to have it.”

He told reporters at the end of the meeting, that it was not a fault-finding one but meant to find a lasting solution to the problem of fuel scarcity and ensure that it does not recur as directed by President Muhammadu Buhari.

He said, “This is a major concern that Nigerians should not be made to suffer, that Nigerians do not get through the kind of thing they went through this December.

“We want to find a lasting solution and that is what the committee will come out with in the resolutions tomorrow (Wednesday).”

He said there was no evidence to punish any marketer for hoarding petrol, assuring all stakeholders that part of the demands of the meeting was to name marketers who erred.

But the DPR, had accused petroleum marketers of hoarding and diversion of petrol, which fueled the scarcity of the commodity across the country.

Speaking last week in Abuja recently, Head, Public Affairs Unit of the Abuja office of the DPR, Mr. Mohammed Saidu, stated that from its inspection, a number of petrol stations were found to be engaged in sharp practices and were sanctioned.

He said the petrol stations, mostly in Abuja, were found to have diverted petrol supplied to them by the Petroleum Products Marketing Company, PPMC, the downstream subsidiary of the NNPC, for sale to the public.

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Specifically, he explained that shortly after the DPR concluded its recent round of inspections on petrol stations in Abuja and its environs, about 129,000 litres of petrol were found to have been diverted by marketers within Abuja region, while a combined fine of N30.5 million were levied on three of such stations to be paid into the Treasury Single Account, TSA, of the Federal Government.

He said, “When we went out today, we discovered some stations have actually diverted products and they take products to filling stations, discharge one or two compartments in the presence of the officials of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, and thereafter take the products somewhere else”.

In the same vein, NNPC had in late December warned oil marketers to desist from hoarding petroleum products or risk arrest by law enforcement agencies.

NNPC Spokesman, Ndu Ughamadu, said in a statement in Abuja that the warning followed the uncovering of 144 oil tankers filled with petroleum products in Kano.

His statement read in part: “NNPC warns marketers not to hoard products as law enforcement agencies, working with industry regulators, have been detailed to take appropriate measures against any defaulter”.

The fuel marketers, however, insisted that they could no longer import and sell Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as petrol, at the controlled price of N145 per litre.

They also denied accusations that they were to blame for the scarcity of the product across the country.

The Chairman, Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association, (DAPPMA) Dapo Abiodun, also told State House correspondents at the end of the Tuesday meeting, that neither the NNPC nor the independent marketers could be blamed for the fuel scarcity.

While stating that marketers did not hoard fuel contrary to the belief in many quarters, he explained that since the price of crude oil went up as a result of Hurricane Harvey in the United States in September, the marketers could no longer import and sell at a controlled price of N145 per litre.

On his part, President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Chinedu Okoronkwo, said the meeting reached a resolution that would see the fuel supply problem resolved once and for all.

“They (government representatives) have also assured us that the refineries are coming on stream with installed capacities. This is good news,” he said.

 

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