Senate Probes Fuel Scarcity Ayodele Afolabi, Abuja – Senate has mandated its Committees on Petroleum Resources ( Upstream

Senate Probes Fuel Scarcity

Ayodele Afolabi, Abuja – Senate has mandated its

Committees on Petroleum Resources ( Upstream

and Downstream ) to immediately commence

investigation into the remote and immediate

causes of the lingering fuel scarcity in the

country.

The decision followed a motion by the Deputy

Senate Majority Leader, Abdul Ningi ( PDP

Bauchi Central), who prayed the Upper chamber

to pay serious attention to the biting fuel crisis

which was creating great hardship for Nigerians

at the moment.

The Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu,

who presided over the plenary, noted that since

Ningi raised the motion under personal

explanation, the senate would not debate it but

would rather approved his prayers.

He said, ” Ningi’s prayers are simple and

straightforward. He is asking us, as

representatives of the people, to direct our

committees on upstream and downstream, to find

out what is currently going on in the oil sector

and possibly find a way of addressing it.

“In that regard, we now ask our committees on

Petroleum Resources ( Upstream and

Downstream), to find out what is going on and

what the government is doing about it and report

back on Tuesday last week. That is our wish”

Ningi, had while moving his motion, said since the

Senate still have the mandate of the people until

June 1, it had the responsibility to intervene in the

unfortunate development.

“We need to know whether fuel scarcity has come

to stay. We need to know whether it has become

part of our life. We need to plan.

“By planning and talking about it we our now

sensitising Nigerians to brace up for the

impending issue of fuel scarcity whether it is

going to be here permanently or temporary.

“But we can’t know all these things until we hear

from the experts. Therefore my prayer is to ask

the committee on downstream and upstream to

come up with explanations next Tuesday through

which Nigerians will know and plan their future.

“Otherwise, I think its legally and morally wrong

to keep silent about it, sweep it under the carpet

and to continue to believe these things are usual”,

he said.

The bitting fuel scarcity which started across the

federation early last month when oil marketers

alleged that the federal government was owing

them backlog of unpaid subsidy monies running

into hundreds of billions of Naira had since then

remained with Nigerian motorists and other

consumers.

Even the explanation given by the Finance

Minister and Coordinating Minister off the

Economy, Dr Mrs Ngozi Okonjo Iweala last week

that the federal government had paid about

N150billion out of the N200billion the marketers

alleged FG to be owing, has not in anyway,

helped in bringing an end to the scarcity.