Minister blames fuel scarcity on diversion

The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, on Sunday blamed the current scarcity of petrol nationwide on the diversion of the commodity by some marketers.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the minister made the accusation after an unscheduled inspection of 15 filling stations in Surulere, Ikoyi, Ajah and Iponri areas of Lagos.

"We have enough fuel to serve the country, the challenge we are having is that, some drivers will not supply the lifted products to designated filling stations.

"Having gone round the state, it is not just the filling stations at Ikoyi that appeared to be without product, but other extreme locations like Ajah and other parts in Surulere.

"It appears there are lots of factors militating against efficient delivery of fuel.

"We learnt that some of the marketers instructed their drivers to change the number plates of their trucks to make it difficult for tracking.

"I have directed the heads of the agencies - DPR, PPMC and PPPRA - to give me a clear picture and timeline in terms of numbers of trucks coming into Lagos.

"There is diversion and I want some ideas about the diversion. If we can establish there is, I want to know how this is being done.

"They need to supply me how these trucks are being tracked because diversion is not easy to do.

"They will be sanctioned and I'm ready to publish names of anybody that may be involved."

The minister assured Nigerians that the government has a reserve stock of petrol that could last for the next two weeks.