The House of Representatives Committees on Petroleum Resources (Downstream and Midstream) have called on security agencies to clamp down on fuel marketers hoarding petrol and engaging in the arbitrary increment in the price of the premium commodity.
The lawmakers gave the order through a statement on Wednesday jointly signed by the Chairmen of the two committees, Ikenga Ugochinyere and Henry Okojie, adding that they reached out to the stakeholders in the petroleum distribution value chain to end fuel queues in the country.
Accoring to the lawmakers, they have engaged the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), 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) to mention a few.
“We have engaged extensively with them, with a view to ascertaining the cause of the resurgence of the fuel queues in petrol stations across the country,” their statement partly read.
“From our investigations, we have discovered 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 challenge that the queues have resurfaced. These logistic issues range from difficulty experienced in transporting products from the mother vessels to onshore. Movement of products with marine shuttle vessels, disruption in the Escravos channels, etc.”
The committees said the disruptions in logistic supply have been taken care of and the scarcity of petrol would be a thing of the past in the next few days.
The lawmakers accused some stakeholders of economic sabotage and asked security agencies to clamp down on them.
“We hereby call on security forces to support the NNPCL, NMDPRA, PETROAN, NARTO and other key stakeholders in the distribution value chain, so as to ensure that such 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.”