Residents of Jalingo, the Taraba State capital have accused the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) of sabotaging the effort to end the lingering scarcity of petroleum products in the town and environs.
The security agency is responsible for monitoring the sale and movement of petroleum products in the state.
Residents who spoke to LEADERSHIP on the current worrisome fuel scarcity in the state accused the NSCDC of allowing fuel marketers to hoard products and sell only to black marketers, thereby causing acute scarcity and hardship on the people.
Motorists and tricycle riders who lamented the situation said they bought fuel at N300 per litre, which is N120 above the pump price of N180 per liter at the few filling stations that dispense the product in the state capital. Only three filling stations, Oando Oil, located at Roadblock, AY Shafa Oil located at ATC and Mai Hanchi Oil and Gas at Micheline Roundabout were selling the product in Jalingo as of the time of filing this report.
The residents who bought the product for generators also revealed to our correspondent that they bought the product at the rate of N450 per litre (N1,900 per gallon) from black marketers since the product was not available at the filling stations.
Those who with LEADERSHIP confirmed that the NSCDC was aware that most of the marketers hoard the products and sell only to black marketers in the night to resell at exorbitant rates.
One of the residents, Peter Umar said, “We see the filling station owners selling to black marketers in the night. Can the NSCDC tell us that they are not aware of the development for the past three months of the fuel scarcity in the state? We demand urgent action against those who are out to cause artificial scarcity in the state.” Umar, who drives an 18-seater bus spoke with LEADERSHIP while queuing for the product at roadblock.
The spokesperson of NSCDC, Mr Samuel Ilia said there was shortage of fuel supply to the state from the depot.
Ilia said the NSCDC had deployed its men to monitor pipeline vandalism and hoarding by marketers to end the scarcity of the products.
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