17 February 2014, Ilorin – The Kwara Government has called on residents of the state to refrain from panic buying of petrol following reports of scarcity of the product.
Special Assistant to the Governor on Petroleum Monitoring, Alhaji Lawal Isiaka, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday that there was no reason for panic buying.
“The vandalised pipeline on Ogbomoso road which supplies petroleum products to Ilorin had been repaired.
“So these marketers in Ilorin that closed their stations to create artificial scarcity because of bridging of fuel at Oke-Oyi depot will be disappointed.
“l want to use this medium to warn fuel marketers who sell the product above the official pump price to desist forth-with as anybody caught will face the wrath of the law,” he said.
A News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) correspondent, who monitored the development, reports that residents had besieged the few stations where the product was being sold.
At Omu Aran, headquarters of Irepodun Local Government Area, no filling station was selling to consumers as at 3pm on Sunday.
NAN investigations revealed that most independent operators closed shop in Ilorin, the state capital, while there were long queues at the NNPC stations and outlets of major marketers like Mobil and Total.
When contacted, the state Chairman of Independent Petroleum Marketers’ Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Mr Bashir Olopade, attributed the situation to inadequate supply of the product to their members.
“Can you believe that over 300 of our members in this state were being supplied with two trucks only on daily basis?
“There is scarcity because we, the independent marketers, are not loading as expected; the loading is now a camouflage.
” What we do now is to go for bridging by approaching independent depots in Lagos,” he said.
The state Controller of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Mr Amos Jokodola, said that he was on leave and could not make any official comment on the situation until his resumption next month.
– NAN