By Muyiwa Lucas; John Ofikhenua, Nicholas Kalu, Abuja; Tajudeen Adebanjo, Bimpe Babajide and Iswat Omikunle

• NARTO threatens strike over cost

• No scarcity of product, says NNPC

Queues returned to petrol stations in parts of Lagos yesterday.

The fear of scarcity spread across the metropolis.

In Abuja, the queues, which have lingered for some days, continued.

In both cities, black marketers flooded major highways with petrol in cans, selling to motorists on the roadside.

In Lagos, vehicles lined up at Ajah, Lekki, Victoria Island and the mainland areas in search of premium motor spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol.

It was the same situation in Sango-Ota, Mowe, Ibafo and Arepo axis on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

There were long queues all over Abuja. Very few petrol stations had the product.

Most of the outlets on the Kubwa Expressway were shut.

The few that had the product were packed with vehicles. It was the same in the Nyanya area.

At the city centre, queues created gridlock in parts of Wuse and Garki.

Black marketers had a field day, selling from between N300 to N400 per litre.

The situation may worsen if the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) carries out its threat to withdraw haulage service should the Federal Government not address rising operational costs.

But the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited said there was no need for panic buying.

Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Garba Deen Muhammad, said in a statement: “The NNPC Ltd wishes to assure the public that the company has sufficient PMS stock to meet the needs of Nigerians.

“The public is, therefore, advised not to engage in panic buying of petrol; and to ignore all rumours that may suggest otherwise.

“In line with the existing laws of the land, NNPC Ltd. is deeply committed to ensuring energy security for the country.”

In Ajah, an NNPC mega station was shut.

Read Also: Subsidy: Governors, Labour accuse NNPC of insincerity

The gate of an NNPC station in Mushin was also closed.

Many other stations shut their gates to motorists on Lagos Island, except Oando on the Lekki-Ajah Expressway.

But there were no queues in all the petrol stations along Ikorodu Road as motorists drove in to refill with ease.

The situation was the same around Ketu, Ojota and Mile 12.

A filling station manager told The Nation that marketers were hoarding the fuel in anticipation of an increase in the pump price.

Isaiah Jesuwale, who works with Mobil filling station in Mushin, said: “There is nothing like queue here as you can see. The news of fuel scarcity is a rumour and nothing more. Fuel is still at N162.50 and there has been no directive from above for it to change.”

President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Chinedu Okoronkwo, told The Nation all member stations sold petrol.

“Take a look around town, you will see that all IPMAN members are selling petrol; none of them has shut their gate to the public. But let’s wait till tomorrow (today) then we can talk more,” he said.

NARTO National President, Yusuf Othman, in a statement, said members of the association found it difficult to sustain their businesses because the freight rate is regulated and paid in arrears.

“We can’t operate that way. Transporters whose freight rate is fixed and regulated cannot sustain the business if nothing is done.

“We can’t work if nothing is done to increase the freight rate. The condition is unbearable because of the cost of diesel,” he said.

Othman urged the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) to urgently increase the freight rate to reflect the present cost of diesel and spare parts.

According to him, the ex-depot cost of diesel soared to N401 per litre yesterday and may hit N420 per litre if something is not done urgently.

He urged the NMDPRA Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Malam Farouk Ahmed, to convene a stakeholder meeting to increase the freight rate and address other pressing issues of cost of operation.

“Today, the price of AGO ex-depot is N401 per litre. It means that in Abuja, Kaduna, Kano, it will reach N420 to N430. At the filling station, it will get to N450.

“Regulate our rising operation cost. It is as simple as that. Otherwise, our people have parked their trucks and more people are going to park,” he said.

Petrol sufficiency days and stock figures are receding and unstable, according to an NMDPRA sufficiency report for January 27, February 2, and February 3.

The NNPC used to boast about 30 to 40 days stock sufficiency and about 2 billion metres, but the stock has dipped to 25.45 24 days sufficiency and about 1,425,046,694 litres as of February 3.

From the stock breakdown, there were 769,417,053 litres in-land, 98,365,735 litres at berth and 557,263,906 litres marine stock.

The reserve was 1,506,046,692 litres on February 2, an equivalent of 26.89 days sufficiency.

The breakdown for February 2 was 769,293,346 litres of land-based stock and 736,753,128 marine stock at berth (offshore).

On January 27, the reserve was a 1,345,338,930 litres stock of petrol.

Last month, the stock day sufficiency receded from 26.78 days on January 26 to 24.02 days sufficiency on January 27.

As of January 27, there was total in-land stock of 788,968,309 litres and 213,917,185 litres as total jetty (at berth) stock.

The report added that there were 342,453,436 litres of marine stock. The total reserve for the day was 1,345,338,930 litres. The previous day, the reserve was 1,499,806,953 being 26.78 days stock sufficiency.

The stock sufficiency was 25.47 days on January 25.

Ahead of Yuletide, the NNPC said it raised its reserves from 1.7billion to 2 billion litres.

Nigeria consumes between 54 million to 60 million of petrol daily.

The scarcity followed rumours that the Federal Government planned to remove the subsidy.

Despite the subsequent announcement that the government had shelved the subsidy removal plan, products supply was still a far cry from the demand for it.

Convener of a civil society organisation (CSO), Concerned Nigerians, Deji Adeyanju, decried the alleged hoarding of petroleum products by independent marketers.

In a letter to the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, he said the withholding of petrol was to “criminally increase the prices, cause artificial scarcity and plunge the country into widespread economic chaos.”

He said it was worrisome that regulators had not deemed it necessary to call the independent marketers to order but continue to allow them to take advantage of Nigerians.

There were more facts on why the detention period of Yoruba Nation activist Sunday Adeyemo (popularly known as Sunday Igboho) was extended by six months.

His lawyer Olusegun Falola told The Nation, that the law in Benin Republic stipulates that anyone standing trial over criminal matters should not stay longer than six months in custody unless the incarceration is extended by another six months.

Falola explained that the practice is to allow investigating authorities the necessary time to do their job properly before the case is decided. He, however, clarified that there was no criminal charge against him and no extradition request from Nigeria so far.

He said a preventive detention like that of Igboho is meant to keep accused persons in custody before trial on the assumption that releasing them would not be in the society’s best interest – since there is the likelihood that the accused would likely commit more crimes if released in the course of the trial.

The lawyer, who said his team has done everything within the ambits of the law to get reprieve for the embattled Yoruba Nation agiator, concluded that there is more to Igboho’s trial than meets the eye. It is a political trial, he said yesterday.

He said: “In this country (Benin Republic), anyone that is answering criminal charges and whose trial is yet to be decided can only stay in custody for six months. The incarceration will need to be extended every six months if the case is still pending – up to maximum of five years. That is our law.

“We have done everything so that he can be released but the government has not granted our request. There’s no criminal charge or offence or any evidence of any crime against him. They just want to keep him in custody. May God help us. We have done everything under our laws, but they are still holding on to him.”

The planned nationwide industrial action of all the associations/unions in the aviation industry, billed to commence on Tuesday, has been suspended.

This was sequel to a Memorandum of Settlement (MOS) reached between the aviation workers and the Federal Ministry of Aviation in the early hours of Tuesday.

Both parties signed the agreement at the end of a conciliation meeting at the instance of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment (FML&E).

The meeting, which took place in the conference room of the Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige, discussed the two demands of the unions, which are: the non-implementation of the Minimum Wage consequential adjustment in the Aviation parastatals since 2019 and the non-approval/release of the reviewed conditions of service in the parastatals.

Briefing journalists after the meeting, Ngige said after exhaustive deliberations on the issues which the parties agreed as germane, they reached the following resolutions:

“The National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC), was requested to issue a service wide circular informing all organisations in the public and private sectors that they are bound to implement the National Minimum Wage of 2019/consequential adjustments.

“The Ministry of Aviation is to circulate the circular on the consequential minimum wage adjustment to all the agencies under the supervision of the ministry, requesting them to implement the National Minimum Wage consequential adjustment without any further delay and also clarify that this payment became effective from April 18, 2019, when the Minimum Wage was signed into law.”

In a statement Deputy Director, Press and Public Relations of the ministry, Charles Akpan, the Minister said they agreed that those that had exited the system from April 18, 2019 to date, would also be paid the arrears.

“The meeting noted that some categories of workers in the Aviation Sector attract some peculiar allowances, which are not extended to others and stated that those salary structures that are not captured in the Memorandum of Terms of Settlement signed and dated 9th, 14th, 15th 16th, 17th and 18th October, 2019 between the Federal Government and organised labour on the consequential adjustment of the other wages, would attract consequential adjustment as agreed during the negotiations of the Federal Government with the labour centres-The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria in October 2019.”

He said the meeting concluded that all the agencies that had not paid the minimum wage allowances should write to the NSIWC through the Ministry of Aviation for consideration/evaluation.

According to him, the NSIWC promised to process all as soon as possible and consequently, the parties agreed that the consequential adjustment of the New Minimum Wage of 2019 based on the approved government templates should be implemented on or before the end of the first quarter of the year 2022 (March 31, 2022).

Regarding the non-approval/release of the reviewed conditions of service (CoS) of the agencies under the Aviation Ministry, Ngige said they noted that the issue was a protracted one, having been ongoing for about nine years.

He said the meeting charged the management to take more proactive steps to conclude the review of the conditions of service to boost the morale of the workers and retain the best technical staff in the industry.

“The meeting was informed that the financial implication of the conditions of service (CoS) for Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) has been approved by the Presidential Committee on Salaries (PCS), hence the whole process for NIMET has been concluded except for hazard allowances, which would be reconsidered by the NSIWC on a sectoral level. Hence, the NSIWC is to release this approved CoS immediately.

“The meeting however noted that the CoS for Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) and Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) require establishment input and directed the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation to update the Ministry of Aviation on this aspect of their CoS by Friday, February 11, 2022 and copy the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment. The meeting agreed that the financial aspect of NAMA and NCAA would be resolved by the PCS by the third week of February 2022.

“The meeting was also informed that the CoS FOR Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has been released since 2019. There are however establishment issues which have been observed and will be forwarded to the Federal Ministry of Aviation by the Management of FAAN for transmission to the OHCSF for urgent action.”

He promised to urgently look into the additional issue introduced by the associations/unions, bothering on the right of workers to freely associate with a Trade Union within the Aviation Industry as stipulated in the Trade Unions Act. Cap 714 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 by the Airline operators.

He said they agreed that by the end of the first quarter of 2022 (March 31, 2022), the Aviation Ministry should ensure the approval, release and implementation of the renewed CoS for all the workers in the agencies under the Aviation Ministry.

“In view of the above, the 7-day ultimatum issued for a planned industrial action, effective 8/2/2022 is hereby suspended.”

Unless there is unity within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), dislodging the All Progressives Congress (APC) from office will remain an unfulfilled dream, Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike, warned yesterday.

The governor cautioned that critical stakeholders must first of all drop personal ambitions against the ruling party to reclaim power.

Wike, who spoke in Kaduna after a visit to wish ailing Senator Ahmed Makarfi speedy recovery, said: “This is not about who wants to run for presidency, that is not the issue. Who wants to zone presidency; that is not the issue at all. The issue here is all of you as a matter of duty must be united. If you like, zone presidency to the West, if you are not united, can you win election?”

In a statement signed by his Special Assistant on Media, Kelvin Ebiri, Wike was quoted as encouraging the opposition party to rising to the challenge of rescuing Nigeria.

He said: “Nigeria is bleeding and so, if we are not united Nigeria will not forgive us because every Nigerian is hoping that PDP must come and stop this bleeding. And we require everybody.”

According to him, “Nigeria as a nation desperately in need of rescue from the APC stressing that “all well-meaning Nigerians, particularly members of the PDP” must come together and wrest power from the APC in 2023.

Wike said the ruling APC was deficient in ideas and could not provide solution to the numerous challenges facing the Nigerian state.

“There is nothing they can tell us now. They don’t have any other idea. If they have any idea, they didn’t use it.  Now is what we call injury time. All promises made now cannot be fulfilled. If they had made promise for six years and didn’t fulfil it, is it one and half years left that they will fulfil it?” he asked.

Wike said he and other stakeholders in the party remained eternally grateful to the former Kaduna State governor, who as acting national caretaker committee chairman of the PDP, prevented the party from being destroyed by some extraneous forces under the watch of former Borno State Governor Ali Modu Sheriff.

He said: “Leadership is given by God and you see, when a party is in crisis, that is when you know who has leadership quality. When our party was in crisis …he stood firm, committed and showed braveness and said look, I have no other place to go other than the PDP. So he removed this party from the shackles of Ali Modu Sheriff.”

Wike commended Makarfi, who was governor in Kaduna and PDP leaders in the state, for ensuring that the party remained politically relevant.

He applauded them for the remarkable performance of the PDP in the last local government election in the state, particularly at the grassroots.

Senator Makarfi expressed profound gratitude to the Rivers State governor and his entourage for the visit.

He commended Wike and his colleagues for ensuring the success of the party last national convention.

Gunmen on Monday evening reportedly killed three persons and injured others in an attack on Nnobi in Idemili North Local Government Area.

The incident, The Nation gathered, occurred around 8.45pm.

Anambra Police spokesman Ikenga Tochukwu couldn’t be reached on phone.

But a Senior Police Officer, who pleaded anonymity, confirmed the incident.

The source said it was a case of cult war and not gunmen attack as speculated.

According to the source: “Only two persons were killed during the shootings involving cult members and few others got injured in the process.”

The Nation gathered that the gunmen were moving from one location to another while passers-by scampered for safety in the area.

A source claimed all the security operatives around the area, close to Nnewi ran away with their patrol vehicles during the attack.

Details Shortly…

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has denied reports he would be declaring his interest in the 2023 presidency immediately after the National Convention of the ruling All Progressives Congress’ (APC) as fake.

His spokesman, Mr Laolu Akande, on Monday described such reports as “sponsored speculations.

Citing a report on the front page of a national daily, Akande noted that updates on the activities and actions of the Vice President can only come from his office and not speculative reports.

He pointed out that Osinbajo is occupied with the duties thrust on him by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration, urging the public to speculations in the media.

Read Also; Osinbajo dissociates self from 2023 campaign messages

“I’ve seen “news” that VP ‘ll announce presidential bid after APC’s convention. Anyone reading the story ‘ll know it’s all false and speculative snippets.

“Any information on activities and actions of the VP will come directly from his office and not sponsored speculations in the press.

“The VP continues focusing all his attention on the work of this administration and on supporting Mr. President in every possible way. Please continue to ignore the speculations” he said.

The detention of Yoruba Nation activist Sunday Adeyemo popularly known as Sunday Igboho has been extended by six months, The Nation has learnt.

The Counsel for the detained activist, Chief Yomi Aliyu SAN confirmed the extended incarceration of his client.

But this is contrary to claim by Abuja-based human rights lawyer Pelumi Olajengbesi on Saturday that the 49-year-old agitator would soon regain freedom.

Olajengbesi, in a Facebook post, stated that Igboho’s freedom would attract wild jubilation across Yorubaland.

Igboho has been in detention in Benin Republic since he was arrested at an airport in Cotonou by the neighbouring country’s security forces while trying to flee to Germany in July 2020.

He fled Nigeria for Benin Republic after the Federal Government declared him wanted.

Despite frantic efforts to get him released, checks by The Nation show he has spent over 202 days in Benin Republic prison.

Aliyu noted that there was no criminal charge or extradition request from Nigeria against Igboho.

He said: “Contrary to what was speculated in the news by a lawyer, the government of the Republic of Benin has renewed the incarceration of Chief Sunday Adeyemo a.k.a Igboho Oosa for another six months even though there is no criminal charge in their file in Cotonou and without extradition request from Nigeria.”

Aliyu further disclosed that he would approach the court of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS Court) to challenge the extended incarceration of his client.