The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas workers on Saturday declared that it had directed its officials to compile the list of marketers involved in the hoarding of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, for possible sanctions.
It also gave depot owners selling petrol above the approved ex-depot price of N148.77/litre a 24-hour grace period to revert to the regulated price or be named and shamed as public enemies, as petrol scarcity lingered in Lagos, Abuja, Nasarawa, Niger and many other states on Saturday.
The PUNCH exclusively reported last week that depot owners had raised the ex-depot price of petrol to between N162-N167/litre following the introduction of transhipment charges by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.
This development had made many filling stations in various states, particularly outside Abuja and Lagos, dispense petrol above N180/litre, higher than the approved N165/litre price.
But NUPENG in a statement entitled, “Exploitative Behaviours of Marketers of Petroleum Products,” which was jointly signed by its President, Williams Akporeha, and General Secretary, Afolabi Olawale, kicked against the price hike.
The union said its attention had been drawn to the harrowing experiences of the public due to the unscrupulous activities of petroleum marketers who were taking advantage of the seeming gaps in the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act to enrich themselves at the expense of the country.
The statement read in part, “It’s an undeniable fact that PMS is still under subsidy regime, and we find it disheartening and worrisome that these unscrupulous marketers are selling PMS from the depots at prices far above the official rate.
“We are giving these marketers 24 hours with effect from midnight of Sunday, February 27, 2O22 to revert to the official rate of N148.77/litre or we shall name and shame them as public enemies aside from other sanctions.”
NUPENG’s threat came as the scarcity of petrol continued in states, with motorists forming long queues in front of the few filling stations that dispensed fuel on Saturday.
Motorists and other petrol users wondered why the over three-week fuel scarcity had refused to abate despite assurances by NNPC and the Federal Government.
“There is still scarcity all over the place including Lagos. My wife attempted to buy fuel in a keg today, the station refused, citing orders from above. They asked her to bring her generator to the fuel station to fill,” a petrol user lamented.
Meanwhile, the union stated that it was also disturbing that though diesel, aviation fuel and kerosene were deregulated, there must be some measures of checks and control over the prices otherwise the entire productive activities would be grounded.
It said, “We have it on good authority that it is one marketer that determines and fixes prices of these products for other marketers to adopt leaving all consumers (domestic and industrial) at their mercy.
“This unsavoury situation is evidently clear from the cries of the airlines’ operators, road transport operators, factory owners and private homes and offices. The union cannot continue to watch as some cabals keep on exploiting the people and the nation.”
It implored the general public to bear with the union in whatever actions it deemed necessary against “these exploiters.”
NUPENG said it noticed the helplessness of NNPC in this, in view of the implementation of the petroleum Act.
It also noted that the marketers were taking advantage of the newness of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority to rip off Nigerians.
This, it stated, was why the union had decided to intervene in order to call marketers to order.
“The nation and the people are bleeding and in the absence of any decisive institutional intervention, NUPENG has decided to once again step up in the defense of the people, the nation and the industry,” the union stated.’’
It added, “We are also by this press release directing all our officials in all our zones to start compiling lists of petrol stations that are in habit of hoarding products during the day and selling at nights at exorbitant rates for possible sanctions.
“These also include petroleum products depots that may want to be hoarding products because of our decision on this matter.”
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