The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has attributed the persistent fuel scarcity in the country to panic buying and sharp practices by some petroleum marketers.
The corporation, however, assured that the fuel queues across the country would end next week as it now has enough litres of fuel to end the scarcity, News About Nigeria reports.
According to the NNPC spokesperson, Olufemi Soneye, the company currently has about three billion litres of petrol, sufficient to last for at least 30 days.
He blamed oil marketers and panic buying for the lingering queues, saying, “The queues are clearing, but people are trying to hoard, while others are buying what they don’t need.”
Soneye also accused marketers of exploiting the situation to make more money, saying, “Some individuals might be exploiting the situation to maximise profit.”
He urged the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) to ensure that marketers distribute the product correctly.
However, petroleum marketers under the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) and the Major Energies Marketers Association of Nigeria (MEMAN) have disagreed with the position of the NNPC.
They argued that inadequate supply was a major reason for the persisting fuel scarcity.
IPMAN’s National Vice President, Hammed Fashola, said marketers were not involved in sharp practices and could only hoard available products.
He said, “That is far from the truth. You can only divert the product that you have. You don’t divert what you don’t have.
“On the issue of pricing, we are in a regime of partial deregulation. If you noticed, even before this crisis, we had different prices everywhere. That is another issue that cannot stand.
“On the issue of hoarding, you cannot hoard what you don’t have. It is not even making sense when you have fuel at this critical period, then you say you want to hoard it. So, that is not true too,” he said.
He commended the NNPC for trying to put the situation under control but wondered how the corporation could shift the blame to marketers who were not the importers of petrol.
MEMAN’s Executive Secretary, Clement Isong, also stated that while some sharp practices existed within the oil sector, it was too simplistic to blame marketers for fuel scarcity. He attributed the scarcity to logistic challenges and urged the government to flood the markets with products to solve the problem.
