I’ll Publish Names of Those Hoarding, Diverting Fuel – Allison-Madueke. •Insists ‘We’ve Enough To Wet Nigeria’ ******************* Irked by the persistent fuel queues in major cities of the country over the past two weeks, Petroleum Resources Minister, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, has accused the nation’s petroleum marketers of creating artificial scarcity by hoarding and diverting petrol. The Minister who paid an unscheduled inspection to some filling stations in Lagos on Sunday, threatened to publish the names of those involved in the act of sabotage, insisting that there is enough fuel to wet the country. She said some truck drivers after loading fuel divert to other directions rather than the designated places, thereby causing hardship to end users. According to her, “there is diversion and I want some ideas about the diversion. If we can establish there is, I want to know when and how this is being done. “I have directed the heads of the agencies, DPR (Department of Petroleum Resources), PPMC (Petroleum Products Marketing Company) and PPPRA (Petroleum Product Price Regulation Agency), to get back to me today and give me a clear picture and timeline in terms of numbers of trucks coming in to Lagos, the volumes and where they are getting to in terms of the market. “They need to supply me how these trucks are being tracked because diversion is not easy to do. There will be sanctioned and I’m ready to publish names of anybody that may be involved,” she warned. The Minister assured Nigerians that there are enough products in strategic reserves that will last for over two weeks if importation of fuel is suspended today. The minister visited over 15 filling stations in Surulere, Ikoyi, Ajah and Iponri areas in Lagos State. “Having gone round the state (Lagos) it is not just the filling stations at Ikoyi that appeared to be wet with products, but other extreme locations like Ajah and other parts in Surulere. It appears there are lots of factors militating against efficient delivery of fuel. We learnt that some of the marketers instructed their drivers to change the number plates of their trucks to make it difficult for tracking. Does it mean those markets they are diverting the product to are more lucrative than intended market?”
Posted on: Mon, 10 Mar 2014 08:45:53 +0000
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