Senate gives Petroleum Minister two weeks to end scarcity

The Senate on Thursday, asked the Minister of Petroleum Resources,  Mr. Ibe Kachikwu to end the scarcity within the next two weeks.The Upper Chamber also directed the Permanent Secretary, of the ministry, Mrs. Jamila Soara,  and heads of other agencies in the sector to henceforth ensure steady supply of the products in all filling stations across the country at the approved pump price.Specifically, the red chamber threatened stiffer penalties for any relevant federal government agency which failed to ensure that fuel, when supplied, was sold at uniform price all over the country, as against the current discrepancies in the prices at different parts of the country.

Chairman,  Senate Committee on Petroleum Downstream, Senator Uche Ekwunife, stated this   when the  officials of the ministry; the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation;  Pipeline Products and Marketing Company;  Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency; and others were summoned  to explain to the committee, reasons for the persistent scarcity.

The Senate had on Tuesday, mandated the committee to urgently examine all the issues associated with the current scarcity of petroleum products in the country.

It was also  asked to  determine how the Legislature would collaborate with the Executive arm of government to bring lasting solutions that would prevent any future problem of fuel scarcity in the country, and report back in two weeks.

The directive followed a motion brought to the chamber by Senator Barau Jibrin (APC, Kano North) and co-sponsored by 23 other senators on the need to urgently resolve the crisis.

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