By Emeka Esogbue
In the face of frequent impasses in the nation’s petroleum sector, renowned Public Affairs Analyst, Frank Ofili, has advised the Federal Government to criminalize the hoarding of petroleum products by petrol station owners in the country.
Ofili considers it wickedness and economic sabotage and calls on the Government to compel offenders to suffer for the crime and face disciplinary action for the act.
He wondered why Nigerian petrol station owners engage in the act to punish consumers.
“You own a gasoline station, you have stock, and you sell at N280 per liter, which is high enough. Yet, you choose to hoard it just so that you create the impression of scarcity, and needlessly drive people to desperation. All in a bid to further jack up your price, he queried.”
The Public Affairs Analyst from Illah community further believes the practice is severe in his home state when he noted, “there is nowhere this malpractice is perpetrated more than my own Delta State, an oil-producing state. Sad! Sadder that this act of wickedness and economic sabotage is happening under the watchful eyes of the regulator, DPR.”
“Let me repeat. The hoarding of petroleum products should be criminalized. It should be treated as economic sabotage,” he emphasized.
Many filling stations across Lagos are under lock and key as fuel is unavailable for sale forcing transport fares to go on the increase and putting commuters in hardship.
Frank Ofili who prides himself as “a student of the society,” wants the Federal Government to take bold steps to punish offenders across the nation.
