The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr . Ibe Kachikwu, has said that there is no evidence that marketers are hoarding petroleum products and as such, there is no reason to punish them. He stated this after a meeting between a Federal Government delegation led by the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, and fuel marketers as well the heads of the Department of State Services and the Nigeria Immigration Service, and representatives of other paramilitary services.
According to Kachikwu, the meeting was not a fault - finding one but meant to find a lasting solution to the problem of fuel scarcity and ensure that it does not recur as directed by President Muhammadu Buhari. The minister told journalists at the end of the meeting, "This is a major concern that Nigerians should not be made to suffer, that Nigerians do not get through the kind of thing they went through this December.
"We want to find a lasting solution and that is what the committee will come out with in the resolutions today" He said there was no evidence to punish any marketer for hoarding Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, assuring all stakeholders that part of the demands of the meeting was to name marketers who erred.
Kachikwu stated, "The thing is even the Nigerians, who have suffered, will want to be sure that we find a lasting solution and find evidential basis upon which to punish people. "This is a democratic government. I don't have one evidence yet; if you have one, I will like to have it” The fuel marketers, however, insisted that they could no longer import and sell Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as petrol, at the controlled price of N 145 per litre. They also denied insinuations that they were responsible for the recent scarcity of the product across the country
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