The Department of State Services (DSS) has given all players in the oil business a 48-hour deadline to fix the country’s chronic gasoline shortage.
If there are still long lines at various filling stations across the country beyond the deadline, the secret service has threatened to start a nationwide crackdown on saboteurs.
DSS spokesperson Peter Afunanya announced this immediately after DSS Director-General Yusuf Magaji Bichi met with significant stakeholders in the oil business yesterday at the agency’s headquarters in Abuja.
According to Afunanya, stakeholders at the meeting included the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, the Nigerian Midstream, and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), depot operators, and others.
He stated that the DSS chose to participate in the case because it has the authority to investigate economic sabotage, as well as detect and prevent risks to national security.
He stated that, while the agency cannot attribute the current gasoline shortage to economic sabotage, it is prepared to rise to the occasion to alleviate the problem.
According to him, the agency informed all parties involved that the DSS will no longer tolerate the ongoing gasoline crisis and that all of them must go above and beyond to ensure an adequate supply of petrol across the country.
According to Afunanya, NNPCL has agreed to sell petroleum at the official ex-depot price to all marketers across the country. NNPCL further stated that it has enough product, approximately 1.9 billion liters, for distribution across the country even after the Yuletide time.
Afunanya said DSS commands and platforms across the country had been placed on high alert, adding that “they are to acquire information on any element that wants to hinder these operations.”
He cautioned Nigerians not to take the law into their own hands, stressing that the DSS had obtained assurances from stakeholders that all matters would be settled within the next 48 hours.
