The Federal Government has laid the blame for the soaring price of gasoline across the nation on the avarice of petroleum marketers and their rush to profit illegally from the suffering of Nigerians.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, who made the charge while briefing State House reporters following the weekly Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting, which was presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari and held in the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa in Abuja also bemoaned the burden the situation has placed on the general public.
Findings by ValidViewNetwork show that most fuel stations now sell above the approved pump price of N195, by resorting to prices ranging between N200 and N650, while many others reportedly hoard the product.
In a press conference, however, the Minister reiterated a previous order to the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA, to pursue and punish marketers who are taking advantage of the current situation.
He assured that the government was not merely sitting back and watching as Nigerians suffered, saying that everyone involved in the downstream industry is trying to ensure the problem is brought under control.
According to him, “We have reports of profiteering by marketers, and I’ve directed NMDPRA to sanction anybody who profiteers from this kind of situation. I mean, we cannot stand by and watch our citizens being exploited by marketers.
“But of course, I’ve given that directive and I don’t know if it has not taken effect. I don’t know the details of how far that directive has been carried out. But I’m going to still further give that directive if that is still the situation, but definitely, we are not paying a blind eye at all.”
Explaining that the Ministry of Petroleum is not in control of all the factors that had contributed to the fuel scarcity crisis, he assured that all steps are being taken to end the hardship.
“This is quite unfortunate, we are not happy at all about what is going on. Every hand is on deck. As I said earlier, the Ministry of Petroleum is not in control of all the factors that led to scarcity in the sense that there are Forex issues as well as other issues.
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“At the moment, there is supply, but unfortunately, we are experiencing some bottlenecks with the distribution and movement of the product to various destinations for now.
“I want to assure you that everything is being done; the NNPC Limited, NMDPRA, the marketers, everybody’s hand is on deck to ensure that this problem is resolved and to also inform you that today we had a briefing from INEC and INEC has also engaged NNPC and NNPC has assured INEC that petroleum products supply to INEC will not be a problem and so that will not likely affect the election at all”, he said.
