Adulterated fuel: CSO demands sanctions for erring importers

The Youth Arise for Undiluted Leadership and Development Initiative (YAULDI) has urged the Federal Government to sanction the importers of adulterated fuel which has caused pains to Nigerians.

The National Coordinator of YAULDI, Lucky Akhrame, at a press conference on Thursday in Abuja, said a census of public and private damaged automobiles should be replaced as part of the penalty to the perpetrators of the economic crime.

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• https://dailytrust.com/this-is-not-the-first-fuel-scarcity-under-president-buhari

They said that the sack of the heads of the regulatory authorities would be part of measures to bring sanity to the chaos created by their failure to act appropriately.

“The President should also set up an Independent Panel of Inquiry into the circumstances that surrounded the importation of the contaminated petroleum products into the country by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its contractors.

“It is not enough for the NNPC and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Agency (NMDPRA) to merely apologize to Nigerians for the failure of contracted importers to breach the terms of their contract and render bad services to Nigerians,” Akhrame said.

He said the matter was one of national security and demanded a clinical investigation to get to the root of the matter.

He said that the four organisations fingered in the importation of the bad fuel that led Nigeria into the long weeks of scarcity and crisis, leading to damaged vehicles, must also take responsibility for their actions.

He said, “President Muhammadu Buhari should step in now and replace the heads of the NMDPRA and the NNPC. It is not in the best interest of the Nigerian public. It negates the spirit of the PIA. The conflicts of interests and the connivance of the two organizations are apparent.

“It is now a matter of national security and overriding public interest for the Minister of State Petroleum, Timipre Sylva; the GMD of NNPC and CEO of NMDPRA to present to the public the finding of their investigations into the importation of adulterated petroleum products.”

Akhrame added that the four organizations earlier fingered; Brittania-U, AY Mai Kifi, Emmadeb and Hide-Energy, have all denied any wrongdoings, wondering who imported the adulterated petroleum into Nigeria and certified its quality?

He said, “It is unacceptable for the head of a public regulator, managing a sensitive part of the economy, to be junketing the globe while our citizens are subjected to so much misery caused by the abdication of its statutory responsibilities?

“Nigerians have for weeks been exposed to bad fuel which caused damages to many automobiles, created fuel scarcity, created increased transport fares and long waits at the various bus stops across the nation.”