How military caused fuel scarcity – Opadokun

A former Secretary of National Democratic Coalition, NADECO and Convener of Coalition of Democrats for Electoral Reforms, Mr. Ayo Opadokun said it is shameful that Nigeria, which is one of the largest global producers of crude oil, still imports petrol for domestic consumption.
Opadokun told journalists in Offa on Tuesday that the lingering fuel crisis is a result of prolonged misrule by military.

He also blamed the sole ownership of fuel tanks built by independent marketers for fuel scarcity across the country.
Opadokun said “I am extremely sad and weakened over the fuel crisis. But I know it to be a cumulative effect of the prolonged misrule of the country by the military.
“When Buhari was there as the military Head of State, he built refineries but none has been added to the ones he built. The population was not as large as this; the vehicular movement was not as large and wide as this.
“Since then, what has happened? Those who took over from him have totally ravaged Nigeria. What they needed to do, they did not do.

“I was part of the Nigeria Labour Congress team that did sufficient research. We went to Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela to find out how much it costs to explore one barrel of crude oil. Nigeria’s own is the most costly in the world and then, what are they doing now?
“What has happened in the last three or four months is that because the government is not willing to add more money to their profit, they (importers) said they would not import. So, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has been importing the totality of fuel being used in Nigeria.
“But because we have been used to a system where fuel tanks (tank farms) are being built by independent marketers, they made that unavailable and impossible for the distribution to go seamlessly. That is the cause of the crisis.”