The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) wants security beefed up at petrol stations to check the activities of street urchins (area boys) and black market dealers.
Mr Ogbugo Ukoha, Executive Director, Distribution Systems, Storage and Retailing Infrastructure, NMDPRA made the appeal during a visit to some filling stations and depots in Apapa, Lagos on Thursday.
The depots visited by Ukoha include 11 Plc, NIPCO, Conoil and AITEO.
He also apologised to Nigerians for the inconveniences caused by the current scarcity of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), saying it was deeply regrettable.
Ukoha said the authority had received complaints from marketers, especially in Lagos and Abuja, that their station attendants were being harassed by black market operators for refusing to sell fuel in jerry cans.
He said: “We are appealing to the security agencies to intervene by ensuring that the stations are protected and are allowed to open for operations as much as they can.
“We have told the stations to ensure that they are selling optimally with all available fuel pumps.
“We are also advising them to open as much as they can in terms of time, If they can do 24 hours that will be appreciated.
“We will make sure that there will not be dispensing of products in jerry cans. Only cars will be sold to.
“If we do this in the next few days, we are quite optimistic that Nigerians will see stability returning.
“I use the opportunity again to say it is quite regrettable that this is happening, but in the backroom, we are doing quite a lot to see that this issue is addressed as soon as possible.”
Ukoha said the focus was to ramp up supply and eliminate the queues in filling stations across the country.
To this end, he said four vessels were discharging at Apapa Port, with more being expected.
Ukoha said: “We are monitoring the vessel schedule for supplies. I can confirm that the traffic is building up and we are receiving vessels.
“We are testing on all parameters now and as we confirm that they are on-spec, we discharge them efficiently and promptly into depots.
“Now, when the products are discharged into the depots, the next priority is to make sure that we are trucking them out timely.
“We are urging the depots for them to be open round the clock. We work with safety and we will keep trucking out and pushing out products as much as we can.
“We are also focusing on the manifest to see where the destinations are, both locally and those that are being bridged to the hinterland, especially upwards North.”
On his part, Mr Olumide Adeosun, Chairman, Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) said his members would continue to work with the regulatory agencies and other stakeholders to restore normal supply of PMS.
Adeosun said some MOMAN members had already extended their hours of operation to between 18 to 24 hours in order to reduce the fuel queues across the country.
