Petrol Scarcity: NARTO Warns Members Against Hoarding, Diversion

Amidst the biting fuel scarcity across the country, Yusuf Othman, the National Association of Road Transport Owners, NARTO, has warned its members against diversion of Petroleum products.

For close to two months, Nigerians have suffered untold hardship with no end in sight to the fuel scarcity. While some blame the NNPP Limited for the problems, the marketers are not spared for allegedly diverting the products into neighbouring countries.

The product is now sold well above the government’s regulatory price of N165 per litre due its unvailability in many parts of the country

President Muhammadu Buhari, last week, set up a committee headed by him to find a lasting solution to the problem, even though doubt lingers among Nigerians on the capacity of the administration to end the crisis.

Speaking on Monday in Abuja, the nation’s capital, Othman warned his members not to compound the problem by diverting the product, saying the scarcity has affected the Nat economy negatively.

NARTO President, Yusuf Othman, gave the warning in Abuja in reaction to the lingering fuel crisis in the country.

The NARTO boss called on “law-abiding and patriotic members who are into the transportation of petroleum products to please desist from illegal bunkering, smuggling and diversion of petroleum products.”

“This is because these actions are detrimental to the economy of our great nation. This association will not support, defend, or sympathise with anyone caught committing these crimes,” Othman said.

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Yimipre Sylva, had while announcing the 14- member committee to be chaired by the president, warned that the federal government will not continue to watch while untold hardship is being visited on Nigerians by those he failed to mention their names.

“The Federal Government will not allow misguided elements to bring untold hardship upon the citizenry and attempt to discredit government’s efforts in consolidating the gains made thus far in the oil and gas sector of the economy,” Silva said in a statement signed by His media aide, Horatius Egua.