There are fresh revelations that the ongoing scarcity of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) also known as petrol is a deliberate attempt by the importers and distributors of the product, especially the owners of tank farms.
Shipping Position Daily investigations around the tank farms in Lagos last week revealed that palpable fear has gripped some of the marketers over the recent Oil Revenue Special Task Force which was set up to restore sanity in the oil industry and which is headed by the former anti-graft czar; MallamNuhuRibadu.
There are fresh revelations that the ongoing scarcity of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) also known as petrol is a deliberate attempt by the importers and distributors of the product, especially the owners of tank farms.
Shipping Position Daily investigations around the tank farms in Lagos last week revealed that palpable fear has gripped some of the marketers over the recent Oil Revenue Special Task Force which was set up to restore sanity in the oil industry and which is headed by the former anti-graft czar; MallamNuhuRibadu.
Sources close to one of the major depots at the Ibru yard, confirmed that the present scarcity that is being experienced all over the country is a deliberate attempt by the so called distributors who collected the subsidy from the Federal Government, in order to cause panic and thereby stall the actions against them by the Ribadu committee.
“The House is probing them and they are afraid of this Ribadu subsidy committee, they don’t know what punishment will be meted out to them, they are cabals and they just want to hold the nation to ransom”
“Now almost 50 per cent of the subsidy has been removed, it is their duty to go and buy and sell atN 87 or N90 so that it can be sold at N97 to the public, but they are just trying to hold the nation to ransom so that government will be scared of taking any action against them, it is a deliberate attempt” he confirmed
Our source also confirmed that a lot of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) monitoring groups at the depot are also allegedly involved in the oil scam, according to him; they assist the marketers in collecting the subsidy on product they did not import.
In other to curb the scarcity that is gradually crept back into the country and has found its way in Lagos also, he suggested that the government should continue with the importation of product and be allocating to the tank farms as they have been doing before, “but there should be proper monitoring by DPR and NNPC officials, then the Ribadu committee should in turn be monitoring the NNPC and the DPR committees that are supposed to be monitoring the depot because they are the ones actually aiding the depots” our source said.
Also speaking with our correspondent about the involvement of the DPR in the oil scam, a marketer, Mr. OlanifeAdeoye said that whenever the DPR officials come to the depot for inspection, especially on kerosene, they are bribed with two trucks of the product.
Speaking further, he said “For example there was a day they brought products here, but because of the level of corruption, the DPR had to be collecting two trucks from the depots apart from the money they collected, they came here looking for people that will buy the two trucks of kerosene” he said
Olanife suggested that any of the importers that are investigated and found to be corrupt and swindled the nation of unmerited subsidies; their depot should be confiscated in replacement of the money they have stolen.
“A receiver manager should be appointed for the depot to manage the depot jointly with the owner until the whole subsidy they have collected illegally is collected by the government”
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