Reps want security agencies to go after oil marketers causing fuel scarcity

The House of Representatives has urged the appropriate security authorities to uncover the oil marketers behind the recent nationwide fuel shortage.

Additionally, the lower chamber decided that downstream regulators should testify before House leadership on Thursday and ordered appropriate House committees to look into the issue.

The resolutions were adopted after Leke Abejide (ADC, Kogi) filed a motion of urgent public urgency on Wednesday during plenary.

Abejide, who proposed the motion, claimed that despite financial provisions for the payment of subsidies, the shortage still exists. He claimed that the continued shortage was causing unimaginable suffering for Nigerians.

He also expressed concern about how it would affect the costs of products and services. Therefore, he requested that NNPC Limited make sure to import enough goods to meet demand.

The lawmaker also claimed that the decrease in supply of goods and the expense of obtaining daughter boats may not be unrelated to the scarcity.

“Another contributing factor to the scarcity of the product may not be unconnected with the increased cost of hiring daughter vessels in the hike in liter charges which hitherto were paid in Naira but are now being charged in US Dollars,” he said.

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He noted that the scarcity had allowed retail outlets to sell different prices despite the products being regulated.

“Uneven pump prices are being dispensed by the filling stations across the country which fuels speculations that government may have begun to remove subsidy on petrol,” Abejide said.

Deputy Speaker Idris Wase, who presided over the plenary, put the resolution to a vote, and the House adopted it.

Recently, commuters have been complaining about the rippling effects of the scarcity due to skyrocketing transportation costs in key cities, while vehicles across Nigeria have had difficulty obtaining petroleum goods.

At the petrol stations, there are prolonged queues of cars. Currently, the price of petrol at the stations ranges from N195 to N300 per litre. Fuel stations can charge as much as N500 per litre in some really distant communities.

The federal administration has often asserted that it has sufficient quantity of petroleum products on hand, but the shortage has persisted despite an inadequate supply of electricity nationwide.

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