Olusegun Olanrewaju and Cross Udo
As the spate of fuel scarcity biting hard in the nation gets more malignant, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) yesterday called on the appropriate authorities in the country to immediately mobilize all their staff nationwide to monitor the distribution and strict compliance with the sale of petroleum products.
The aim, according to the union is to ensure deterrence with fixed prices, with punishment by way of measures such as revocation of license of any marketer found wanting in the discharge of their commercial value.
PENGASSAN also said it empathises with Nigerians on the hardship currently being faced with the scarcity and drastic hike in the price of products, especially Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).
Delivering its position on the chaotic fuel situation in the country, the association, in a statement signed by its president and general secretary, Festus Osifo and Lumumba Okugbawa, respectively, called on the management of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) to compel all marketers and retailers to make the products available at approved prices.
The statement read in part, “The national leadership of PENGASSAN has been following up with our members in NNPC Trading Limited who are responsible for assigning the products to marketers and our teaming members from the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority,
“NMDPRA in various depots and terminals across the country that is responsible for issuing cargo clearance, monitoring compliance, routing inspection, metering calibration/maintenance, accurate delivery to trucks, record keeping, etc. on the need to carry out their functions expeditiously.
“While we understand that the parameters imputed into the old PPPRA and now NMDPRA template have since changed because of some economic vagaries such as exchange rate fluctuation, vessel hiring cost, and cost of AGO amongst others, there is no sufficient justification for PMS (Petrol) to be selling for such highly inflated price, thereby subjecting the masses to further difficulties.”
The association added, “Even though we have some good marketers who tend to play by the rules, others who are overbearing have deployed methods of creating artificial scarcities in other to hike the price of the product uncontrollably as the prices of the product now sell between N185 to N650 depending on your location and outlet.
“From data available to us from our members, there are over 30 days of PMS sufficiency in the country; hence there is no basis for the current scarcity and hardship that Nigerians are being subjected to.
“We hereby call on the management of NMDPRA to compel all marketers and retailers to make the products available at the approved price.”
Calling on the management to immediately mobilise all their staff in various locations across the country to monitor compliance and anyone found wanting, PENGASSAN advised that they should have their licence revoked to serve as a deterrent.”
It also threatened that if nothing is done urgently to address the situation and lessen the hardship faced by Nigerians, it would take a ‘drastic action’ (possibly strike).
PENGASSAN’s words, “Should this collusion go on unchecked; we will not hesitate to partner with other stakeholders in ensuring that Nigerians are not further exploited. A stitch in time saves nine,” it warned.
Wike accuses PDP national of anti-party activities
*CSOs protest fuel hike in Benin as private schools shut down operations
Like a sticky sore thumb, the problem of fuel scarcity in the country has continued unabated around the country.
Reports yesterday from various spots showed that consumers and motorists are still having a hell of a time securing fuel, to the condemnation of observers who lament the menace of the problem to economic growth.
In Lagos, as usual, the problem was noticed in parts of the city, with its biting garb. Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, a strategic neighbourhood witnessed practically a lockdown as motorists said they were stranded on the road for hours, without an outlet.
“I have never seen this kind of situation before,” a customer lamented, adding, “Even at the official NNPC fuel stations, you can hardly get fuel to buy.”
The situation was meaner in far-away Edo State, as the fear of the unknown kept several private schools in Benin City, the Edo State capital, closed yesterday as civil society groups held a peaceful demonstration in several parts of the city.
They were protesting the scarcity of petrol and the exorbitant prices of the fuel stations that were selling the product per litre.
Reports say some schools even sent text messages to parents as early as 6:30 am, informing them that their premises would not be open as they could not determine the dimension the planned protest would take.
Others took more dramatic actions such as sending messages and pupils back to their parents and guardians.
Further reports stated that there was heavy security presence in all the flash points as early as 6am.
Yesterday, armed policemen, armoured vehicles, members of the Edo State Vigilante Group, as well as the Public Works Volunteers (PUWOV) took over the areas adjoining Rung Road and Ugbowo near the University of Benin main gate, as well as parts of Sapele Road and other areas.
Also noticeable, it was further gathered, among the protest groups were members of the Edo State Civil Society Organisations (EDOCSO) and the Faculty of Peace Organization (FPO).
A leader of EDOCSO, Omobude Agho said the recent hike in the petrol pump price was anti-people. Nigerians, he stressed, can no longer endure the present hardship.
He said, “Fuel has become N700 and minimum wage is N30, 000. A bag of rice costs over N50, 000, and the minimum wage is still going for sale at the prohibitive price of N30, 000.
“Before we say we will resist them but now, we will fight them. Anywhere you see black marketers, pursue them, and don’t pity them that they are poor. Anybody that is wicked whether poor or rich is wicked.
“Anywhere we catch black marketers, we will seize the fuel, and we will convert it and if you don’t have anything to do with the fuel, throw them away.”
Also, one of the protest coordinators FOP at Government House Benin, Osunbor Omokaro said, “Only mega marketers are selling fuel at the government-approved price now in Edo State.
“Go to Lagos, Conoil is still selling, NIPCO is still selling, MRS is still selling at the government-approved price. But when it comes to Edo State, our products are being diverted to independent marketers. That’s why our situation is even worse.
“We know there is a shortage of petroleum products in Nigeria. But the kind of prices and the pain that the Edo state is being subjected to because of the manipulative tendency of the major marketers is unbearable.”
Addressing the protesters at the Edo State House of Assembly, Speaker of the House, Marcus Onobun, said he would relay the complaints of the protesters to the executive arm of government especially on their query that the state government has not deemed it fit to set up a task force to check the anomalies in the petroleum distribution chain.
Meanwhile, state governor, Godwin Obaseki, has announced plans to set up a committee to monitor fuel distribution and pricing in Edo
He is also to meet with stakeholders in the distribution value chain to check scarcity, price hike
Obaseki disclosed plans to set up a committee to monitor the distribution and pricing of the product to ensure that shylock marketers do not take advantage of the situation to rip Edo citizens off.
In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media Projects, Crusoe Osagie, the governor said he would in the next 24 hours also schedule a meeting with all stakeholders in the product distribution value chain to deliberate on the issues responsible for the distribution hurdles and price hike and find lasting solutions to the matter.
Meanwhile, as Edo schools were closing over the protest by civil society groups, and fuel hikes and scarcity, residents of Dutse, the Jigawa State capital, were also lamenting the non-availability of products.
