The petroleum ministry has said it is set to crack down on all major marketers involved in diversion of petroleum products, causing artificial scarcity across the country.
Minister of petroleum, Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke said in Lagos on Sunday that some major marketers involved in fuel diversion have been identified and will soon be sanctioned.
“The number of trucks coming into Lagos, the volumes coming in, where they’re supposed to be getting to in terms of the mapping and an approximate idea of what is being diverted (is being investigated), because clearly there is diversion.
“In terms of our critical reserves, we have more than 2 week’s sufficiency on hand right now and we have been pushing the sufficiency out. The issue is where is some of the fuel being diverted to?
“A lot of hard work would need to be done in the next 24 hours or so; there would really be sanctions this time. In fact I am ready to start publishing the names where we find that people have been diverting products, because there’s no reason for that at this time”, she said.
In what appears to be a demonstration of government’s seriousness at enforcing effective distribution of petrol across the country, the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Allison-Madueke, had on Saturday paid an unscheduled visit to some fuel stations in Lagos.
While on the tour, the minister insisted that the Federal Government has no intention of increasing the pump price and warned that a list of those suspected to have hoarded the product is already being compiled.
