The Presidential Task Force (PRTF) on distribution of petroleum products in Borno state has attributed the three-week fuel crises in the state to the ongoing joint strike action of National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas workers (NUPENG) and Petroleum and Natural Gas Seniour Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASAN), stating that truck drivers are currently not lifting fuel to the north.
This was disclosed Wednesday in Maiduguri by the Borno and Yobe states PRTF Chairman, Alhaji Bukar Gana in an exclusive interview with DAILY POST on the ongoing fuel crisis that has continued to affect both business and transportation sectors in both states.
He said the protest by the oil workers resulted from the reforms initiated at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Emmanuel Kachikwu.
His words: “The fuel crisis in Maiduguri metropolis, and Damaturu, the Yobe state capital may not ease, because our supplies to the two states have dropped.
“We have been working round the clock to ensure that the few number of fillings stations that have fuel are sell to custormers, so that the long queues at filling stations can be reduced before the end of this week. As I speak to you, we are going from station to station to ensure that the product is released for sale to motorists.
“Today (Wednesday), the PRTF has 16 filling stations with fuel to dispense to motorists. 75 per cent of the vehicles in Maiduguri metropolis were abandoned by motorists at filling stations that had fuel being supplied yesterday (Tuesday).
”The problem we are facing was not the orderly sale of petrol to motorists, but the drop in supply caused by the ongoing strike by NUPENG and PENGASAN.”
A sources at the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) in Maiduguri also told DAILY POST that most of the filling stations have fuel to dispense to motorist at the official price of N86.50 a litre.
He argued that, “The two-week scarcity could be deliberate, as supplies of fuel to Borno and Yobe states were not suspended after overcoming last year’s fuel crisis in January, 2016. We have all the manifests of all the number of trucks of fuel distributed in Maiduguri and Damaturu for sale at official pump price.
“What we have observed and confirmed is the hoarding of fuel by some major and independent marketers in Maiduguri and Damaturu metropolises.
This prompted the President Muhammadu Buhari to constitute the PRTF on the orderly distribution of petroleum products in the two affected states in the North East zone of DPR,” said the DPR source, which was not authorized to speak on the fuel crises.
In Maiduguri, black marketers that sell fuel in gallons cashed in on the fuel crises to earn more money.
The black marketers made up of jobless youths have resorted to the massive buying of fuel in jerry cans, taxis, and private vehicles at night.
DAILY POST observed that the NNPC mega station on Damboa road, yesterday,sold fuel at N86 a litre with long queue of vehicles, extending for a distance of over a kilometer.
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