The Commissioner for Oil, Gas & Solid Minerals, Hon. Joseph Ugheoke, gave the warning in a chat with journalists at the Government House in Benin City, Edo State capital, on Tuesday.
“People in the state should not engage in panic buying as there is no justifiable reason for doing so. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has assured the state government that it would supply enough products to the state to address the shortage.”
He explained that the state government has placed a ban on the sale of PMS in jerry cans, adding that notice has been sent to managers of petrol stations not to sell PMS of more than 20 litres to buyers with jerry cans.
“We are aware of the reduced allocation of PMS to Edo State. The shortage of PMS is not peculiar to Edo State, as other states in the country are also recording similar shortage in supply though there is no record of scarcity in some states,” the commissioner said.
“The ministry has been reliably informed by the NNPC that the quantity of PMS supplied to Edo State will adequately serve the needs of users during the yuletide. There is no need for panic buying by motorists across the state.”
Ugheoke said the state government through the Ministry of Oil, Gas and Solid Minerals, is putting measures in place to prevent some marketers from exploiting the people by hoarding the product to create artificial scarcity and make excessive gains to the detriment of the people.
“The queues we have been seeing at petrol stations across the state were caused by the fears over the planned strike by members of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN). But with the suspension of the strike on Monday, loading of petroleum products has commenced and our staff will be going round to monitor the supply and dispensing of PMS to motorists at the petrol stations,” he said.
According to him, officials of the ministry will ensure that petrol stations that were supplied PMS, dispense the product to buyers based on the regulated price of N145 per litre and any station hoarding the product will be shut down.
