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| Senator Buruji Kashamu |
The Senator representing Ogun East
Senatorial District in the upper chamber, Senator Buruji Kashamu, has
attributed the current fuel scarcity in the country to the activities of
saboteurs within Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and corrupt
practices by depot managers.
He said on Sunday while fielding
questions from journalists shortly after a meeting with members of the
Omo-Ilu Foundation and an empowerment ceremony, held at the Omo-Ilu
Foundation Complex, Ijebu-Igbo in the Ijebu North Local Government Area
of Ogun State.
He advised the Federal Government to
centralise the allocation of petroleum products directly from the office
of the Minister of Petroleum Resources, cutting off the depot managers,
whom he alleged were partly responsible for the scarcity.
Kashamu said from the investigations he
conducted among some independent marketers, some managers at the depots
sold Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as petrol, to independent
marketers at the official rate of N77, while the depots officials asked
them to pay between N30 and N35 into special private accounts.
This, he said, had made it difficult for the retailers to sell the product to consumers at the official pump
price of N86.50k.
He said, “I believe that the current
scarcity is artificially induced. There are allegations that even though
the Federal Government has fixed the official rate at which fuel should
be lifted, many of the depots sell above the amount.
“They ask the independent marketers to
pay the government approved rate into the officially designated account
and another difference of between N30 to N35 per litre into other
private accounts or they simply collect cash.”
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