Monday Column By Hameed M. Bello, PhD
hamdbelo@yahoo.co.uk
The Monday column published on December 12, 2022 with the above title has drawn the following reactions and feedback which we hereby share with our esteemed readers.
From Theophilus Abbah:
Your piece with the above title was well-researched and brilliantly written. I admit that the Department of State Security (DSS) has intervened in the fuel crisis on several occasions before its officials came up with the creative idea of conferring with stakeholders in the oil sector on the security implications of the unending and inexplicable fuel scarcity biting Nigerians. Sometime in September 2022, one of those weeks when there were hopeless fuel queues at petrol stations on Airport Road, I noticed vehicles flying into a petrol station. That was at about 7.00am. That petrol attendants were dispensing fuel from their pumps so early was unbelievable; like manna falling to earth from heaven.
I quickly rolled my car onto the queue, though it had begun to build up. Shortly after I parked behind some 10 vehicles, I saw some DSS personnel in the petrol station, and I engaged one of them in a conversation.
“We know all the petrol stations on Airport Road that have fuel. They have supplies of fuel; we have the details about the quantities supplied to them this week. But they don’t want to sell fuel to the people. We have to compel them to sell fuel this morning,” he explained.
“You mean your men compelled this petrol station to sell fuel to us?” I asked in doubt.
“Yes,” he replied. “Many petrol stations have fuel, but they have refused to sell.”
When I arrived at the pump, and it was my turn to purchase, I asked the attendant if it was the DSS that compelled the staff to open and sell petrol to us.
“It was because of the DSS that we’re selling fuel,” she replied. “My manager is not here; he’s not even aware that we’re selling. They (DSS operatives) drove into this station and told us that they knew we had fuel and that we must immediately start dispensing to buyers. If it were not for them, we wouldn’t be selling to anyone. In fact, for over a week now we’ve not sold petrol in this station, though we had supplies.”
It was clear to me that owners of petrol stations are contributing to the predicaments of the ordinary Nigerian. But where are the regulatory agencies who should penalize distributions that sabotage the government’s efforts to make petrol available to the people at a subsidized rate? Why should stakeholders in the oil sector hold Nigerians to ransom, in spite of the huge amount they collect as subsidy?
To confirm what the petrol attendant told me, two days after the DSS threatened to unleash its men on oil marketers who failed to dispense fuel, I noticed that many petrol stations that did not sell products for over two months opened and sold to customers. How did they get supplies? Miraculously?
It is clear that Nigeria’s problems are linked to the failure of regulatory agencies to play their roles in our society. If this is dealt with, every other thing would fall in line.
Theophilus Abbah, PhD, is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Forensic Investigation and Fraud Examiners of Nigeria, and Programme Director, Daily Trust Foundation, Abuja.
From Ben Adam Shemang:
So it can take force to ensure fuel is released to members of the public? Have you also noticed the orderliness in queues? And who takes those black market sellers off the streets so that we can only find them in schools? By the way I witnessed an ugly scene last week along Airport Road. A speedy vehicle with NSCDC colour crashed into a line of petrol hawkers crushing the jerrycans and the contents splashing high into the air. The result could have been a fire as fuel spilt on cars. It was unpleasant! Please DSS please, please and please do it again. This time to the four refineries. Give them a month let us have refined fuel. I beg, let the refineries work. Please let them work.
Ben Shemang is a Director at the Voice of Nigeria, Abuja.
From Alhaji Yahaya Ali:
Thank you very much Dr Hameed for rebroadcasting the DSS warning to some faceless hoarders of Petroleum products. I must admit I am not schooled in the intricate nature of security and safety administration. So permit my layman observation. Is hoarding of essential commodities an offense under the laws of this country? I am not a learned colleague ( Lawyer) and I don’t intend to Hazard a guess here. But if hoarding of Petroleum products were in breach of the extant laws of the country, I doubt if the press conference was necessary. Heeding the warning or not does not absolve the culprits of the offense of hoarding. They are already in breach of the law and should be apprehended and dealt with accordingly. All the same kudos to DSS for the temporary respite from their warning.
Alhaji Yahaya Ali, a renowned finance, capital market expert wrote in from Abuja.
From Habib Yaqoob:
Beautiful, Editor. Well I bought fuel yesterday at a fuel station that had always witnessed a long stretch of vehicles waiting and fighting for the product. By the way I hope you are finding time to write research papers. At a point this article almost read like one of those well researched papers. Keep it up, Doc.
Habib Yaqoob, PhD, is Head of Information and University Relations, University of Abuja.
