Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — The Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria has urged the Department of State Services, to clamp down on those it described as the cartel operating among private depot owners hoarding Premium Motor Spirit and causing fuel scarcity in the country.
This is as the DSS had directed oil marketers and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited to resolve the fuel crisis plaguing the country, with a 48hour ultimatum to activate its operations across the country, should NNPCL fails to heed its directive.
DSS Spokesman, Peter Afunanya said the challenge of fuel scarcity has assumed a dimension that was detrimental to the security of the country.
Reacting, PETROAN Chairman, Eastern Zone, Sunny Nkpe, faulted the 48-hour ultimatum issued by the Department of State Services that oil marketers make PMS available for Nigerians.
Nkpe speaking on live television programme monitor by our correspondent, said fuel scarcity and long queues will persist, until the DSS clamped down on the cartel operating among private depot owners hoarding the essential commodity.
He also announced that there has not been a drop of petrol allocation to the Port Harcourt depots in the last six months.
“Let me make it categorically clear here: there is no amount of threat by DSS that is going to change anything. If it must change, they must start from the source; they should go to the private depot operators to find out where for now we are getting products from.
“Until the cartel or cabal in that area is handled or taken care of, we can never get any reduction or fairness in the distribution of the product,” Nkpe said.
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