According to a statement jointly signed by the Chairmen of the two committees, Ikenga Ugochinyere and Henry Okojie, the lawmakers said they have engaged the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), and the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) to mention a few in an effort to resolve the lingering petrol scarcity.

The lawmakers said: “We have engaged extensively with them, with a view to ascertaining the cause of the resurgence of the fuel queues in petrol stations across the country.

“From our investigations, we have discovered that there is availability of petrol products. We have on good authority that we have in our storage facilities, at least, about 1.5 billion litres of petrol that can last for 30 days.

“It is however saddening to note that it is as a result of logistics challenge that the queues have resurfaced. These logistic issues range from difficulty experienced in transporting products from the mother vessels to onshore. Movement of products with marine shuttle vessels, disruption in the Escravos channels, etc.”

The lawmakers accused some stakeholders of economic sabotage and urged security operatives to go after them.

“We hereby call on security forces to support the NNPCL, NMDPRA, PETROAN, NARTO and other key stakeholders in the distribution value chain, so as to ensure that such acts of economic sabotage that has to do with hoarding, arbitrary increment in price, products diversion and smuggling are detected and dealt with.

“Our people have been through a lot in the last few days and we must not plunge them into further pains. We appeal to all traders and those rendering services, not to unduly take advantage of this temporary challenge, which will be cleared in the next few days.”