“We insisted that the fuel distribution must improve and all challenges eliminated in 48hours and after 48hrs, we will as a matter of urgency carry out operations across the country”
The Department of State Services (DSS) has warned Nigerian stakeholders in the oil sector over the worsening fuel scarcity.
ASHENEWS reports that the Service, which issued the warning during a stakeholders meeting in Abuja on Thursday, also gave 48 hours’ ultimatum within which to end the fuel crisis.
According to the Service, “We have set our commands and platforms nationwide on high alert to get information on any element who wants to obstruct these efforts.”
The Service particularly warned that after the expiration of the ultimatum, it would be forced to commerce nationwide operation to ensure that the products are made available no matter whose horse is gored, stressing that it would no longer be business as usual.
Spokesman of the DSS, Dr. Peter Afunnaya, who announced the position of the Service while briefing journalists in Abuja shortly after the meeting with the stakeholders, said that the Secret police resolved to intervene over the unfortunate development in national interest, stressing that the service would not fold Its arms and allow some individuals or group of persons to destabilize the country through hoarding of petroleum products.
Afunnaya explained that at the stakeholders meeting, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited disclosed that it has about 1.9bn litres of premium motor spirit (pms) in stock which is expected to last throughout the period of yuletide and after.
He said that the stakeholders at the meeting was attended by the NNPC Limited, Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), depot operators and National Association of Transport Owners, (NATO), among others.
The DSS further said; “It is the mandate of the Service to detect and prevent threat to national security. This is why the Service has to summon the stakeholders meeting in the oil and gas sector to find a lasting solution to the problem before it snowballs into crisis
“There is an agreement that marketers will be operating for 24hrs on daily basis and that tankers owners said all hands will be on deck to ensure the lifting of the products.
“IPMAN has also committed itself to ensure that the product is available for 24hrs daily. The NNPC Ltd disclosed that it has over 1.9bn litres of PMS in stock and also agreed to sell the products at official ex-depot price to all oil marketers nationwide
“Therefore, we insisted that the fuel distribution must improve and all challenges eliminated in 48hours and after 48hrs, we will as a matter of urgency carry out operations across the country.
“And in doing this, we won’t mind whose oars is gored. We are sounding a note of warning that it won’t be business as usual,” it warned.
The DSS however advised members of the public not to capitalize on the fuel scarcity to take laws into their hands, saying that the Service will deal ruthlessly with individuals or groups trying to obstruct even distribution of the products.
