Mkpoikana Udoma
06 February 2018, Sweetcrude, Port Harcourt – The Ijaw Youth Council, IYC has raised the alarm over continued scarcity of the Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, otherwise known as petrol, in the Niger Delta, saying the product is still selling at N400 per litre in floating petrol stations across the coastal communities in the region.
The group regretted that the same product was being sold at N145 per liter in Lagos and Abuja while indigenes of communities, which bear the brunt of oil exploration and exploitation are subjected to pay more for the product.
Spokesperson of IYC, Barr. Henry Iyalla, explained that the persisting fuel scarcity in the country does not only show lack of leadership and control of independent marketers, but speaks volume that the Federal Government has lost control of the regulatory price of N145 per litre.
Iyalla called on the government to urgently ensure the steady supply and regulation of price of petrol in the hinterlands and cities within the Niger Delta region.
“Our attention has been drawn to the continuous and persistent unavailability of PMS to Niger Delta states; more particularly the riverine communities where petrol is currently sold for as high as N400 per litre and N250 per litre across petrol stations within the cities.
“This is a deliberate act of oppression, abandonment and careless handling of the economic fortunes of the Niger Delta states and Ijaw communities,” he said.
According to him, “It is unfortunate that the Department of Petroleum Resources has been compromised by the so-called petrol station owners who are openly allowed to sell fuel to motorists and individuals at N250 per litre while their petrol meters still read N145 per litre.
“We expect the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, who is also a Niger Delta son, to know that petrol is sold for N400 per litre on the floating stations around riverine communities within the Niger Delta region.
“We, therefore, call on the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, who is also the Minister of Petroleum Resources; the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and the Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to, as a matter of urgent national importance, ensure the steady supply and regulation of price of PMS to the hinterlands and cities within the Niger Delta to assuage the suffering of our people from whose soil the mineral resources are extracted.”
