Fuel Scarcity: NNPC Engages DSS, EFCC To Curb Product Hoarding

Fuel Scarcity: NNPC Engages DSS, EFCC To Curb Product Hoarding
As the hardship posed by fuel scarcity bites harder across the country, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has engaged the Department of State Services (DSS) and Economic and the Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in a renewed effort to check hoarding and diversion of petroleum products by some unscrupulous marketers.

The engagement of the security agencies, according to a statement yesterday by the corporations spokesman, Ohi Alegbe, is also meant to assist in the monitoring of the nationwide fuel truck-out to retail outlets.

Giving insight on the role of the security agencies in curbing product diversion, the managing director of the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company, Mrs Esther Nnamdi-Ogbue, said that the DSS and EFCC have been mobilised to bring to book any marketer involved in sabotaging the efforts of the federal government in making petroleum products available to motorists across the country.

“We have invited the EFCC and DSS to join us in this campaign of monitoring the movement of petroleum products and they have our mandate to sanction any errant marketer. Enough is enough,” Nnamdi-Ogbue cautioned.

She urged Nigerians and other motorists to desist from panic buying, assuring that there are sufficient petroleum products to satisfy local consumption.

While apologising to commuters, motorists, and the general public for the noticeable hardship faced in accessing petrol across the country, the NNPC assured that it was doing everything possible to normalise the fuel supply and distribution situation. Speaking during a working visit to the NNPC depot in Suleja, Niger State, and some filling stations in Abuja and environs to evaluate the current fuel supply situation, the group executive director, Commercial and Investment of the corporation, Dr Babatunde Adeniran, said that any marketer found wanting in the sale of petroleum products, including the NNPC retail outlet dealers, would be sanctioned appropriately. Adeniran noted that there would be no sacred cows as the corporation was working round the clock by supplying sufficient petroleum products to marketers to ensure that Nigerians enjoy a yuletide season without the pain of fuel queues.

“We must all make sure that petroleum products can be easily assessed by Nigerians at the regulated price, especially as the yuletide season approaches. We have enough products and we want to plead with the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) not to be involved in the diversion of petroleum products in order to avoid causing untold hardship to motorists,” he said.