Over 200 CSOs Suspend Nationwide Anti-petrol Scarcity Rally

Over 200 civil society organisations under the auspices of the Coalition of Civil Society Groups in Nigeria (CCSGN) has suspended its planned nationwide anti-scarcity of petrol protest.

The decision to shelve the protest according to the national president, CCSGN, Osabinu Olufemi, during a press conference in Abuja on Monday said they have come to realize that those behind the protracted scarcity of petrol in the country are the marketers and not the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL).

Olufemi said from the distribution chart released by the NNPCL to marketers across the country it was clear that these marketers were hoarding the product and selling at exorbitant prices.

He described them as saboteurs who are moving to hoodwink the Buhari-led administration to retain the subsidy regime that will end this year.

He said: “We have called this important press briefing today, to call the attention of Nigerians, to the continued act of sabotage, by some oil marketers in the country, which has continued, to undermine, every effort to make petroleum products available to Nigerians, especially at this critical period close to the general elections.

“Recall that our Coalition, comprising over 200 organisations, has earlier planned a showdown protest, against the federal government and particularly, the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited, over the agonizing state of fuel Scarcity in the country.

“Therefore, we have formally shelved our earlier planned protest, based on factual findings and thorough Independent Investigation into the actual cause of this sad situation.

“Our latest position follows the continued presence of long queues in filling stations across the country resulting from fuel scarcity, a development that has made some retail outlets indulge in all manner of sharp practices at the expense of innocent Nigerians.

“It is disturbing that oil marketers are hell-bent on destabilizing the country and hoodwinking the Federal government into the reintroduction of the subsidy regime.

“We have no doubt that the fuel scarcity is artificial as well as being the handiwork of those running the oil and gas downstream to foist their exploitative interest on Nigeria’s National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) through subsidy regime and price increase.

“It is glaring to all Nigerians that the downstream industry players have made up their minds to sabotage the effort of the government at all costs. That is why they are hoarding fuel at filling stations across the country, despite the available record of stock and supply, by the NNPC, up to the present moment.”

However, he urged NNPCL not to yield to the demands put forth by the marketers in the interest of the Nigerian masses who are bearing the brunt of the scarcity.

“We hereby urge the management of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) not to acquiesce to the demand of those marketers, saying, the time of allowing few oil cabals to hijack the destiny of Nigerians had passed.

“We shall therefore in the next few days, be working with critical stakeholders in the petroleum sector, private sector, civil society, and media, to further expose issues around the troubling fuel scarcity in the country, during our series of citizens town hall engagements,” he added.