They accused them of only selling to government officials, friends and relations.
As the scarcity and hike in the price of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) continue to bite harder in Nigeria, motorists have lamented the alleged hoarding of the product by officials of the Asaba mega station of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited in Delta State.
They accused them of only selling to government officials, friends and relations.
On a visit by SaharaReporters on Friday morning to the mega station opposite Asaba International Airport, along the Asaba-Benin expressway, motorists were sighted in queues along the expressway waiting for the NNPC outlet to open.
However, they were told that the product had finished while officials were captured on camera busy selling the product to government officials, friends and relations with their cars and jerrycans.
Speaking to SaharaReporters, some visibly aggrieved motorists who simply identified themselves as Nkem, Afam, Obiora, Innocent, Jude and Stanley, condemned the sale of the product to only government officials, and their friends and relations.
According to the motorists, some of them have been in the queue since 3:00 am on Friday, hoping to buy the product when the NNPC mega station eventually opened for business by 8:00 am.
One of the motorists, identified as Ifeanyi, alleged that the NNPC Asaba mega station is known for hoarding fuel to the general public and selling the product to government officials, friends and relations alone.
He said, "Though the mega station has been of immense assistance to us, the hoarding and selling secretly to government officials, friends and relations at this critical time is condemnable. You don't expect motorists to queue for fuel since 3:00 am, waiting to be attended to and only to be told no fuel and you are selling to government officials, your friends and relations secretly.
“You sell into their big cars and jerrycans and you said there is no fuel. Is that not wickedness?"
Reacting to the development, some officials of the NNPC mega station, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they did not have enough product to dispense to motorists so the little they had was being dispensed to their "special customers."
One of the officials said they were expecting the delivery of more fuel.
The price of a litre of petrol at private depots is currently between N235 and N500 as against the official pump price while the NNPC mega station sells at N189 per litre.
Meanwhile, the state government has set up a product monitoring team to monitor the distribution of petrol, in other to ensure the availability of the product as well as its appropriate pricing.
A statement signed by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Patrick Ukah and obtained by SaharaReporters, stated that the state government decided to monitor the distribution of petrol from the point of delivery by the NNPC Limited to various discharge outlets across the state as a matter of urgency to save residents of the state from the stress they are currently going through due to the non-availability of the product.
The statement however appealed to major marketers of the product to continue to show empathy over the suffering of fellow citizens and to do their utmost to ensure best practice in the delivery of the product.