The Natives, a citizens-led group has cautioned Depots and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN) and other stakeholders in the oil sector against threatening the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) in its efforts to ensure smooth supply of petroleum products.
Its stance was sequel to a recent remark by the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, warning of the federal government’s June 2023 planned removal of subsidy on premium motor spirit,
The group implored all the stakeholders in the oil industry to start preparing for the takeoff of the government’s plan to remove fuel subsidy in the country.
It expressed worry that the country cannot continue with a fuel subsidy regime that benefits only few.
The anti-sabotage organisation’s stance was sequel to a media report credited to the Petroleum Tanker Drivers Branch of National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, (PTD-NUPENG) threatening another strike.
NUPENG had accused security agents of “illegal activities and high-handedness” particularly the Military Task Force operating in the Port Harcourt zone of the union.
President General of The Natives, Smart Edwards, said in a statement that instead of threatening the NNPCL and sabotaging Nigerians, DAPPMAN and other inions in the oil sector should devise another means of resolving impasse among the stakeholders in the industry.
He said:”We read with disappointment the media reports credited to NUPENG against efforts to enforce sanity by a joint task force on illegal activities by marketers and we called on DAPPMAN and other unions in the oil sector to stop sabotaging the masses.
“We call on Depot Owners in the oil sector to stop their acts of economic sabotage capable of imposing hardship on the masses. We believe that your businesses should be done within the law. It is an act of sabotage when you purchase products at regulated prices and go on to sell at prohibitive prices to independent marketers, what then do you expect? This is profiteering at the expense of Nigerians and therefore evil.
“Nigerians are not having this conversation amnesia. In 2022 the nation witnessed a great discovery of a network of pipes shortchanging Nigeria’s crude oil pby collaborative theft, the same which led to a joint action to collapse and curb this evil venture by NNPCL and Tompolo’s company, we will therefore not take lightly any act capable of reinstalling this kinds of economic sabotage.
“The players in this sector must seek new ways of doing things with transparency and not transferring their sole goal of making profits to the masses. Lifting and storing of products are services rendered in a critical sector that affects all Nigerians, so it must not always be about threats. We must seek with the managers of the oil sector to begin to do things differently. Depot owners must begin to be patriotic.Again fuel subsidy will be removed in June this year and it is a must, therefore DAPPMAN and all other unions and associations must be ready to make sacrifices as the year progresses.”
