Dr Maikanti Baru, the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, has commended the Niger State Command of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps for stopping alleged diversion of petroleum products.
Baru gave the commendation in a statement issued in Abuja on Thursday, by the NNPC Spokesman, Ndu Ughamadu.
He said the arrest of the eight trucks had vindicated NNPC’s position that the hiccups in supply and distribution of petrol were due to unwholesome practice of some downstream stakeholders.
According to Baru, they hoard, divert, smuggle across borders and sell products above recommended prices of N145 per litre.
The trucks had a combined capacity of 469,000 litres and were allegedly set on cross-border diversion to the Republic of Benin through Babana, a border town of about 700km from Minna.
Baru urged Nigerians to remain vigilant and report unusual activities of “unscrupulous individuals’’ to law enforcement agencies to bring the present situation under control.
The Niger State Commandant of NSCDC, Phillip Ayuba, had on January 25, said that six of the trucks belonged to a single marketer.
Ayuba said that two of the trucks contained 66,000 litres of petrol, which was twice the quantity contained in a normal truck.
The Minna Controller of Operations, Department of Petroleum Resources, Abdullahi Isa, who also spoke on the arrest of the eight trucks laden with petrol, said that only one truck out of the eight had a genuine waybill to a recognised station in Babana.
He told newsmen that the owners of the other trucks would have to explain their mission and destinations, stressing that if it was established that they were involved in products diversion, they would pay a fine of N200 per litre to the government.
The drivers of the trucks, who are presently in the custody of the NSCDC, Niger State Command, will soon be charged to court.
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