By; AMOS TAUNA, Kaduna
The Amalgamation of Arewa Youths Groups (AAYG), has decried the continuous fuel scarcity that has since its inception, subjected Nigerians to untold hardship in all spheres of life without any concrete steps taken to bring the situation to an end.
The group in a statement jointly signed by its Secretary and spokesman, Comrade Abubakar Musa Ardo and Comrade Victor Duniya respectively, noted that during the previous scarcity in the early part of this year, NNPC and Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) accused some major importers of importing high Methanolic contaminated Premium Motor Spirits, with the promised of bringing the said companies to justice, lamenting that till date, nobody has been punished for inflicting pains on Nigerians.
The group, therefore, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately sack Chief Timipre Silver, the Minister for Petroleum, Mr Mele Kyari, the Group Managing Director of NNPC Limited and Mr Farouk Ahmed, the Managing Director of Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority as saboteurs that have betrayed the trust of Mr President and quest to leave a legacy of easy access to petroleum products without queues.
The youth noted, “While Mr Farouk and his boys are sleeping or inactive, Independent Petroleum marketers are selling PMS in most Northern states as high as N250. This is against the National benchmark and highly subsidized rate of N165.
“One of the consequences of inadequate supply of the Petroleum products in our region is the renewed killings by terrorists as security agencies are equally struggling to access the product in most rural communities that are soft target for criminal elements, therefore they are largely immobilize to respond to distress calls.”
The youths stated, “As critical stakeholders in the Nigeria building project, we can’t continue to fold our hands and allow things degenerate to point of no return. There is no justification for this scarcity amidst abundant blessings of crude oil in most parts of Country, that are both tapped and untapped.”
The group called on Mr President to wild the big stick on the trior of Mr Timipre Silver, State Minister of Petroleum; Mele Kyari GMD, NNPC limited and Farouk Ahmed, MD NMDPRA for clear act of sabotage and an attempt to pitch Nigerians against him.
It also called on the National Assembly to urgently probe the subsidy regime and compare notes with previous years to dictate the rigged figure by both the NNPC and NMDPRA, and ensure that all those concerns are punished.
The group, therefore, calledall on antigraft agencies to probe the activities of the staff of NMDPRA for possible collusion with Independent Petroleum Marketers to financially rape the Federal Government and Nigerians, as PMS now sell far above the National bench mark.
The youths recognized that both Mele Kyari and Mr Farouk Ahmed are all from the northern region, stressing that they have failed woefully in their responsibilities, and strongly supported change in guards in their offices as they appeared to have run out of ideas on how to end the lingering energy crisis in the country.
The youth stated that if their demands are not met in the next five working days, they shall organize their members from town villages to occupy all NNPC zonal offices and its subsidiaries across the region and the FCT until they see changes.
