On Monday, the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) criticized the Department of State Services (DSS) 48-hour deadline for oil marketers to make Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as gasoline, available to Nigerians.
According to the association, long lines and a shortage of fuel will continue as long as the cartel operating among private depot owners is not brought to justice.
Sunny Nkpe, the Chairman of PETROAN for System 2E in the Eastern Zone, announced this on the Sunrise Daily show on Channels Television.
Nkpe said, “Let me make it categorically clear here: there is no amount of threat by DSS that is going to change anything. If it must change, they must start from the source; they should go to the private depot operators to find out where for now we are getting products from.
“Until the cartel or cabal in that area is handled or taken care of, we can never get any reduction or fairness in the distribution of the product.”
He added that no decrease in the amount of gasoline allocated to the Port Harcourt depot over the previous six months.
Peter Esele, a former president of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), who appeared on the program with Nkpe, claimed that the DSS must have had access to a crucial piece of information about the supply value chain in order to give the ultimatum.
“For DSS to come out and issue an ultimatum, the DSS must be privy to some information…Everyone must focus on the DSS to come out with its results within 48 hours or else, DSS may also be a player in the game.
“DSS must tell Nigerians its findings within 48 hours and whoever is behind this should be prosecuted because there are enough products in this country for everybody to get petrol,” he said.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited and oil marketers were ordered by the DSS on Thursday to address the fuel crisis plaguing Nigerians.
The secret police threatened that failure to do so would result in the activation of the agency’s activities throughout the nation.
According to Peter Afunanya, spokesman for the DSS, the problem of gasoline scarcity has grown to a point where it threatens national security.