The Federal Government announces it would penalize marketers who stockpile and divert Premium Motor Spirit when gasoline lines at gas stations shorten. The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority said on Tuesday that its personnel were touring the nation to make sure that no one was hoarding or diverting the fuel that was loaded at the depots for whatever purpose.
This came as the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, which stated that it had more than 1.5 billion liters of PMS in stock for the next 30 days, issued a warning against panic purchasing.
Nigerians have been suffering from a gasoline shortage for the last two weeks, which has caused gas prices to soar from an average of N650 to more than N1,000 per litre in several filling stations.
During the period, the NNPCL in collaboration with the NMDPRA engaged in massive importation and distribution of the product to reduce the queues and restore normalcy.
Between Friday and Sunday, the NMDPRA disclosed that over 4,000 trucks distributed more than 300 million litres of fuel to retail outlets to make petrol available to Nigerians.
As of Tuesday, our correspondents observed that filling stations in Abuja, Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Sokoto and others are now selling fuel with little or no queues.
However, the prices in some stations have yet to return to what it used to be as many still sell a litre of PMS at prices between N700 and N900.
As the fuel circulates across the country, the spokesman for the NNPCL, Olufemi Soneye, in a statement, cautioned motorists and end-user customers against panic buying of petrol, assuring that it has over 1.5 billion litres in its reserve.
The statement read, “As the nationwide supply and distribution of Premium Motor Spirit, also known as petrol, continue to improve, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited has once again called on motorists to shun panic buying of the product.
“In filling stations monitored across several states, including Lagos and the FCT, the queues have since thinned out, a development that will keep improving daily in other states.
“The company wishes to state that at the moment, it has over 1.5 billion litres stock of PMS, which is equivalent to over 30 days sufficiency”.
Soneye stated that it was collaborating with relevant downstream agencies and security operatives to address hoarding issues.
“The NNPCL is also collaborating with relevant downstream agencies, such as the Nigeran Midstream & Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, labour unions in the sector and security operatives to address hoarding and other unwholesome practices,” the statement concluded.
Soneye had earlier accused marketers of hoarding and sharp practices, but the allegations were debunked by the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria.
The NMDPRA South-West Regional Coordinator, Ayo Cardoso, said any filling station caught hoarding the product would be made to sell to the public at the popular market price.
“We have said it repeatedly, nobody is allowed to hoard fuel. We are monitoring all the marketers and the filling stations. Everything is getting back to normal now. If you are caught hoarding, you will be forced to open your station and sell to the public at the market price. There is no point hoarding, there is fuel everywhere now. But if anyone is hoarding, we will ask the station to sell to the public. That is what we have been doing,” he stressed.
On the diversion of fuel for smuggling or other illegal purposes, Cardoso told one of our correspondents that anyone caught would face a sanction of N500/litre of all the quantity being diverted. This indicates that a customer who diverts a truck conveying 30,000 litres of petrol would be made to pay a fine of N15m once caught.
