The Nigerian Bar Association, Sokoto Branch hereby expresses deep concern over the recent unfortunate scarcity of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) in the State which is not unconnected to the recent increase in the price of the product by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL). Prior to the inauguration of the present regime of the Federal Government and that of Sokoto State in May 2023, citizens of Sokoto State bought PMS at a range of N197 to N210 per litre. Today, barely a few weeks short of the sixteenth month of the regimes’ inauguration, citizens of the State are made to cough out a whooping average of N1200 to buy a litre of PMS. The few retail outlets of the NNPC Retail Ltd across the State are under lock and keys for reasons best known to the NNPCL. The NNPC Mega Station at Gusau Road which seems to have the product available on a near regular basis has the eye of a needle at its gates for citizens to pass through not only due to the long queue of vehicles but also due to the seemingly extraordinary citizens who beat the long queue thereby hindering the progression of the ordinary citizens on the queue.
The Nigerian Bar Association, Sokoto Branch, as a watchdog of the Rule of Law in the State, will not stand idly by while the present artificial scarcity and oppressive price regime of PMS operates in the State. Such artificial scarcity and oppressive price regime is a catalyst for the breach of national security, and the breach of national security is a known stimulus for the breakdown of the Rule of Law. The national body of the Association led by Mazi Afam Osigwe SAN has already called on the Federal Government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to halt the present fuel price increase in the country and engage in dialogue with the relevant stake holders but while the stand of the organized body of lawyers in the country is being considered, lawyers in the State are not unaware of the peculiar circumstance of PMS market in the State which has unendingly dragged on in recent years. NNPCL Retail Ltd outlets and independent marketers in the State are known to have a deliberately hoard PMS, especially during periods of price increase speculation resulting in artificial fuel scarcity in the State. This sharp marketing practice has a deleterious effect on the welfare of citizens in the State.
The Nigerian Bar Association, Sokoto Branch hereby calls on the good government of Dr, Ahmed Aliyu to urgently constitute a high-level delegation to monitor the fuel situation in the State and take punitive actions against greedy and insatiate oil marketers present in the State and the managers of government controlled NNPCL retail outlets found culpable in the hoarding of PMS. The Branch also calls on the State government to go a step further to make PMS available to citizens of the State at affordable prices. The Nigerian Bar Association, Sokoto Branch remains overtly committed to the social rights of citizens in the State and to their welfare and wellbeing.
Long live the Nigerian Bar Association, long live Sokoto State and Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Rashidat Mohammed
Chairperson, NBA, Sokoto Branch.
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