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Nigerian govt blames marketers for petrol scarcity

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The Minister of State Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, on Wednesday blamed petrol marketers for the current fuel scarcity in the country.

The minister, who stated this during a chat with journalists at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja, said the long queues in filling stations occasioned by fuel scarcity in many parts of the country was the product of the marketers’ plan to increase fuel pump price.

He said: “It is only in the Abuja metropolis you continue to have these queues. So, is it that there is less supply to Abuja than to the rest of the country? It is not so.

“If you go out of Abuja, they can afford to sell at higher prices and I am sure a lot of people are buying at those higher prices.

“But within Abuja, because of the watchful eyes of the government, they cannot sell at those prices. So we will have to live with that for some time until we fully deregulate. That actually is the problem, it is not a supply problem from us, but it is the marketers.

“But we are engaging the marketers and will continue to engage them.

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“In fact, before now the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) said, Oh, because diesel prices were now going up and of course, you know that diesel is deregulated already.

“So, because diesel prices have gone up, the cost of their moving product has also gone up and therefore we must try to do something about the bridging cost.

“We did that with them, we were able to respond to that and they were able to do something for NARTO.

“And of course, the rest of the marketers are also saying oh no, we must try to add a few things for them here and there.”

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