The Association of Distributors and Transporters of Petroleum Products (ADITOP), said it has authorised its depot chairmen nationwide to cooperate with the Department of State Services (DSS) to resolve fuel issues in the country.
ADITOP said it was in support of the 48 hours ultimatum given by the DSS to stakeholders in the oil and gas industry to end the fuel queues and crises rocking the country.
President of ADITOP, Alhaji Lawan Dan-Zaki, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Sunday that its members nationwide and marketers are ready to cooperate with the DSS to actualise their mission.
The DSS had, on Dec. 8, issued a 48-hour ultimatum to all stakeholders in the oil industry to resolve the ongoing fuel scarcity across the country.
The DSS, in a meeting with the stakeholders, warned that it would launch a nationwide operation on saboteurs if there are still queues at various filling stations in the country after the ultimatum.
The DSS is wading into the fuel matter following persistent scarcity and long queues, especially in the FCT, in spite of assurances by the NNPC Limited and other regulatory agencies of ensuring normalcy.
“We are ready to co-operate with the DSS to put an end to the fuel queues and bring normalcy to the system,” he said.
He said the ultimatum given by the DSS which could be attributed to an information it had, was timely because of the lingering fuel scarcity, adding that currently fuel was not in abundance.
“Our trucks stay up to two weeks at the depots before getting products loaded to transport to the filling stations.
“The more the product is available, there will be normalcy in businesses and livelihoods and we will have turnover too,” he said.
Stakeholders at the meeting included Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG).
Others were the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), and depot operators, among others.
