By Agboola Bayo
Ibadan
Petroleum Tankers Drivers (PTD) branch of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) yesterday accused the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) of being responsible for the current fuel scarcity across the country.
PTD National Chairman, Comrade Salimon Akanni Oladiti, said this in Ibadan while addressing journalists on the present fuel scarcity rocking some parts of the country.
According to him, oil marketers are not hoarding fuel, but the oil NNPC are importing into the country “is not sufficient.”
He said: “We are not conniving with anybody to make Nigerians suffer for fuel. For some time now, we have not been able to load at NNPC depot in Apata, Ibadan and there is no hope of loading in some other NNPC depots in South-west. Government is responsible for this problem, because if they bring enough oil into the country, we as distributors we are ready to sell it out. It’s so sad that we are one of the largest producers of oil but we are still suffering.”
Oladiti pointed out that “presently, 75% of the oil we are consuming in the country now is imported into the country by NNPC, while the remaining 25 percentage is for major marketers.”
“You cannot say because you want to manage your resources you will continue to suffer, what the government is trying to tackle still exists, corruption is still in the oil industry. There is corruption, bribery at all the oil depots before you can load your truck.”
The PTD boss added that there was the need for government to find a lasting solution to incessant fuel scarcity in the country without further delay, stressing that the common man in the country was suffering.
Speaking on the challenges facing PTD members, he said “if not because we believe in this government, we just want to wait and see what they can do,” adding that “tanker drivers across the country are suffering; look at Ilorin-Oloru-Jebba road, a distance of less than 60kms; it takes a tanker to cross from Ilorin to Jeba five to seven days; it is a pity.”
