Fuel scarcity: NNPC, marketers trade blame

ROM DENNIS MERNYI, ABUJA

As Nigerians continued to groan under the current scarcity of petroleum products across the country, authorities concerned have also engaged themselves in a blame game that is yet to proffer solution to the lingering but avoidable economic crises. For over two weeks since the fuel scarcity took Nigerians by surprise, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and other relevant agencies have found fault against each other on reasons why the country should be thrown into such chaos particularly at the time of her centenary celebrations. While products marketers have been accused by the NNPC of hoarding supplies to them for distribution to consumers, Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has swung into action on the directives of the Petroleum Resources Ministry to monitor and effect sanction against any fuel station owner or marketer that has supplies but fails to sell to the public.

Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) and the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF) have also been mandated to ensure that any marketer with stock that fails to exhaust it within a particular period is sanctioned. But the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), in a swift reaction, debunked the allegations that marketers are the cause of the scarcity, insisting that Nigerian security operatives are rather responsible for the problem citing delay in cargo clearance on the high sea as one difficulty being experienced. IPMAN President, Alhaji Abdukadir Aminu, said, “I totally disagree with the insinuations that marketers are the ones hoarding the products at the fuel stations. The real is-sue is on the high sea because to what extent can a marketer hoard the product in the fuel station. On the high sea, we have 42 days sufficiency, so how can a marketer hoard. “The situation we have today has to do with logistics. That is the operations at the jetties including the shore tanks because of the little problem we had one week ago, which was the contraction in supply. The contraction was as a result of the ship-to-ship transfer on the high sea. “And I want to tell you that up to this moment, to the best of my knowledge, there are still delays in clearance of these ships from the high sea. And these delays lead to other issues that cause disruption in loading at various depots across the country. He, however, said the only permanent solution to the persistent fuel scarcity in the country was when the country resumes 100 per cent refining of the product at home.

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