HOW REPS STOPPED FUEL CARTEL IN NNPC – IKISIKPO

House of Representatives Committee Chairman on Petroleum (Downstream), Hon Clever Ikisikpo, has ruled out the possibility of a new regime of fuel scarcity in the country, saying the cartel in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) that creates artificial scarcity has been dislodged. Ikisikpo said in an interview with journalists that for as long as President Goodluck Jonathan remained in office, it would be difficult for the cartel to resurrect.

He said the House, in partnership with the presidency, had dethroned the cartel for good. 'There is no state in Nigeria that did not have the effect of fuel scarcity. Even, there was a time that adulterated fuel was shipped to the nation. If you remember my motion on adulterated fuel, when the committee saw it, it took it upon itself and the issue was arrested.

'With the joint effort of the committee and that of the president, there cannot be anything like fuel queue again. And believe me, even the price of petroleum products, if you go to some places in Lagos, though government prices is N65.00 per litre, you would see N62, N64 just because of the effort of the committee.

'We have done a great job and I believe the country appreciates the work we have done,' Ikisikpo noted.

He said the House decided to undertake a study of the fuel situation in the country at the time it was becoming very difficult to access petroleum products freely and discovered that a few people in the NNPC were feeding fat on the sufferings of the masses.

Ikisikpo added that the cartels were not in a hurry to change until the government descended on them and closed all their routes. 'The cartel was the worst thing that ever happened to the nation's petroleum industry. Our fight was how to break that cartel. That had been the biggest fight because we know that if it was broken this issue of fuel importation whereby some people were deprived will not be there again.

The cartels were feeding fat from Nigeria and allowing the common man to suffer. So they were one of the major causes of the fuel scarcity.' He also spoke of the relationship between the Bayelsa governor, Timipre Sylva, and politicians from the state based in Abuja, saying that the President has urged everybody to sheathe their swords and work together to move the state forward.