Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — Civil society organisations, CSOs, in Rivers State have threatened to stage a protest against the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, over its failure to supply Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, or petrol to government depots in the state.
Chairman of civil society organisations in Rivers State, Mr Enefaa Georgewill, accused NNPCL of involvement in sharp practices by supplying PMS only to private depots in the state, instead of government depots, thus forcing marketers to buy the products at exorbitant prices.
Georgewill said NNPCL was causing untold hardship on the citizens, as marketers having bought the products at N280 from private depots end up retailing it at N350 per litre and above, to consumers.
He further alleged that his investigations revealed that NNPCL has been supplying to private depots at a higher price compared with what was expected.
“The question now is why is the NNPCL hellbent in distributing to the private depots rather than the NNPC depot in Okrika and Eleme axis of Rivers State?
“We call on the NNPCL to immediately make available fuel in federal government depots in Rivers State or face mass action,” he said.
He continued: “We use this medium to call on all our CSO affiliates, trade unions, traders, professionals, students and everybody to prepare for a protest next Wednesday 25th January 2023 by 9am at Isaac Boro park.
“The NNPC which is the sole importer of fuel in Nigeria has failed to provide fuel for the federal government depots in Rivers state but rather supply fuel to private depots that is selling to Rivers people at throat-cutting price of between N280 and N350 per litre.
“What is most annoying is that NNPCL is supplying fuel bought by the federal government with tax payers money to these private depots instead of government depots.
“To be clear, NNPC is supposed to, through its depots, sell to marketers at N148 while the marketers will in turn retail to Rivers people at N165 per litre.”
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