The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN),has threatened to down tools if relevant authority in the country’s oil industry does not stop the ongoing racketeering in the fuel supply chain.
It deplored the current scarcity of fuel,adding that there was no justification for hike in price and agony being imposed on majority of Nigerians.
The union’s President,Comrade Festus Osifo,and its General Secretary,Comrade Lumumba Okugbawa,who expressed this in a statement made available to Premium News on Monday,carpeted oil marketers for selling fuel to Nigerians by creating artificial scarcity of the product in the land.
The statement said:”While we understand that the parameters imputed into the old PPPRA and now Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) template has since changed because of some economic vagaries such as exchange rate fluctuation, vessel hiring cost and cost of AGO amongst others, there is no sufficient justification for PMS (Petrol) to be selling for such highly inflated price, thereby subjecting the masses to further difficulties.
“Even though we have some good marketers who tend to play by the rules, others who are overbearing have deployed methods of creating artificial scarcities in other to hike the price of the product uncontrollably as the prices of the product now sells between N185 to N400 depending on your location and outlet.
“From data available to us from our members, there is over 30 days PMS sufficiency in the country; hence there is no basis for the current scarcity and hardship that Nigerians are being subjected to. We hereby call on the management of NMDPRA to compel all marketers and retailers to make the products available at approved price.
“They should immediately mobilize all their staff in various locations across the country to monitor compliance and anyone found wanting, should have their license revoked to serve as deterrent.Should this collusion go on unchecked, we will not hesitate to partner with other stakeholders in ensuring that Nigerians are not further exploited.A stitch in time saves nine”
