Metro
Fuel Scarcity: Group urges probe of NNPC, major marketers
As Nigerians continue to battle with the fuel scarcity, a Non-Governmental Organization, the Muslim Media Watch Group of Nigeria, MMWG, has called on the federal government to carry out thorough investigation on why the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC stations and many major marketers are finding it difficult to get fuel supply for sales up till now in spite of it’s being in charge of the commodity.
The group, in a statement jointly signed by its National Coordinator, Alhaji Ibrahim Abdullahi and the National Secretary, Dr. Nasir Balogun, lamented that the scarcity has created additional sufferings for Nigerians.
It said “reports from all over the country described as critical, the untold hardship on the innocent citizens as regards fuel shortage prompting the group to call on President Muhammadu Buhari to give ‘matching orders’ to all stakeholders in the petroleum industry to rise to the challenge posed by the fuel scarcity to reverse the ugly trend to reduce the hardship facing the citizens of this country.”
MMWG condemned the lackadaisical attitude of the NNPC and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources on the issue, describing their responsibilities of ensuring the effective distribution of the of the commodity round the country as weak, inefficient and ineffective.
According to the group, “the present situation portrayed them as those who are insensitive to plight of the suffering masses.”
It also condemned “the unruly and uncultured behaviour of some buyers of petrol in very few filling stations that are available in the country such as road blockage by buyers without any arrangement by the security agencies to ensure orderliness and proper management of affairs, thereby worsening the hardship the people are facing.”
“The essence of good governance is to ensure orderliness as well as maintenance of law and order. The present situation whereby the state governments behave as if they are unconcerned with this dangerous trend of fuel scarcity is assuming is condemnable as ‘prevention is better than cure’.
“Security agencies like the Police and Civil Defence Corps ought to have swung into action to ensure orderliness but nothing is happening as if we have no government in place in anywhere in the Federation’.
“The present state of affairs in few petrol stations give opportunity to hooligans, touts and undesirable elements to disrupt peaceful sales of the commodity is highly condemnable.
“It is shameful for NNPC that promised availability of fuel everywhere to take effect from last week could not fulfil its mandate in this regard and no effort is made to update the masses on its efforts to restore normalcy.
“The resultant effects of this neglect is untold hardship for motorists, commuters and indeed all citizens,” it stressed.
The group further noted that the situation has led to the increase in prices of goods and services as well as that of fuel especially by independent marketers
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