The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Adamawa, on Thursday, accused the Petroleum marketers for hoarding of petroleum products resulting to artificial scarcity of the products in Yola.
Mr. Emanue Fwashe, NLC’s Chairman, told journalists after a joint monitoring exercise of fuel dispensing stations in Yola, that the marketers were responsible for the fuel scarcity in the state.
Fwashe said that the monitoring exercise was in collaboration with the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).
He said that the union noted with concern the resurfacing of queues in filling stations in Yola without justifiable reasons.
“After careful investigation, we found that it is only in Adamawa and Yola in particular that people are subjected to artificial fuel scarcity.
“We complained to the appropriate authority and they invited us to join them for the routine monitoring of filling stations.
“During the inspection, it is discovered that some unpatriotic marketers are hoarding petroleum products in anticipation of hike in pump price. This cause the scarcity of the product,” he said.
He alleged that some of the marketers were found to be engaged in hoarding the product to exploit consumers.
“The joint monitoring exercise is yielding results, defaulting stations are directed to open and dispense the the product to the consumers,” he said.
Also speaking, Mr Sadiq Ibrahim, NMDPRA’s Field Operation Controller in charge of Adamawa and Taraba, said that the authority had directed filling stations to disperse fuel to motorists, warning that defaulters would be sanctioned.
Ibrahim said that the authority would intensify monitoring and inspection activities to guard against diversion and scarcity of the products in its area of operation.
“We queried two filling stations for operational misconduct and hoarding thousands of litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) otherwise called petrol.
“Our operation is to ensure the availability of the product, we are going to extend our activity to pump measurement to address the problem,” he said.
(NAN)
