 The Independent National Electrical Commission has said the current fuel scarcity in the country may affect logistic arrangements for the February 25 and March 11 general elections. Ineck Chairman MacModdia Kubel stated this at a consultative meeting with the Transport Unions including Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners and the National Union of Road Transport Workers, among others on Tuesday in Abuja. The Ineck Chief also urged transporters to be neutral and non-partisan as they commute Ineck staff till and from pulling units. According to him interstate trips won't be allowed saying all Ineck and ad hoc staffers must not be beyond their local government areas. Well joining us to discuss this is if you find your Coye he's a public affairs analyst and also joining us is Adiwali Adimola Jostas. Thank you so much gentlemen for joining us. Good evening. Yeah let's start by looking at this fuel situation. I mean people are making fun of it. Nigerians always have a way of trying to you know say something that would you know make us laugh even though we're suffering. People keep asking which line are you on? Which queue are you on? Is it the PVC queue or the fuel queue or are you queuing for Naira? Unfortunately this is the current situation in Nigeria. Everybody sees you. They don't say how are you. Do you have cash? That's the question and the fuel scarcity is also a problem because we don't have light so we need the fuel to power our homes. Do you see us surviving till the election day? We've survived worse things than this. If we go back to the end source scenario we've survived worse things and before now we've survived the high increment in the FX, the BDC, the dollar. So why won't we survive the cash crunch or the increased pricing PMS product? But don't you think that if it were just the increase in the price of PMS and then we could drive in at will and buy fuel it would not be a problem? Why is it that we're paying so high and then we don't even still see the fuel? I think it has to do with the independent marketers because you see some people selling fuel at a very ridiculously cheap price as less than 200, some sell 400 within south west then you go places like the east yourself you see 500, 550 and they tell you that when they buy those fuel from the depot, translating it from their truck and taking it that does another cost and those things have to be factored and me looking at those things I think that the fuels are not scarce it's just the issue of where do they purchase is from at what cost and the end users from the independent marketers who are there how do they get the product that is another issue and that's where the issue of the NMPC or the regulatory body comes in to make to see there is a proper decentralisation channel and another source of making sure the products are readily available with a control mechanism for price and this brings back to the question what's the NMPC doing because everybody seems to be tight clipped about this issue the NMPC has been rechristened and rechristened over and over again hoping that you know if the window dressing will help things change but nothing is happening we've not even heard from DPR that's supposed to regulate nothing has been heard what do you think is responsible for the tight clippedness? It has to do with the leadership because the present is as are today the last time we all know it still remains the minister of petroleum and with the recent privatisation in NMPC I don't think anything really much has happened and looking at the issue of the first subsidy the claim they have been paying that they want to stop that oh they are still paying for subsidy only of recents one of the governors in the north said they can't stop the payment of waste subsidy and you find out that we don't know what really happened in the system the more we look the less the more we keep the understand so we need somebody who is going to come as the elections are around or changing government somebody who will be genuine who will have a course that's very far away I'm so sorry to talk over you that is so far away because the oil is a major source of revenue and it's it's we are we are looking like a thief they are doing us any favor by selling it to us at the high price yes telling us the other countries that they have though they sell 500 600 so it's sad but in the interim because you see elections yes may be over in febru and in march but then we still have a long way to get to then between now and the weekend you don't know how you're going to survive if you're going to be able to get fuel to go to your job or when i'm going to survive we have been surviving is this not part of our problem we are we are almost close to the pool less than three weeks today is it's just left 23 days to the pools with the three weeks plus so with all we have gone to in the past seven years plus I think nobody should be told that we need a baroque revolution by taking our own fate into our hands that is where we find ourselves at this moment it's interesting let's talk about how this will affect the election because you see for now you say Nigerians will survive but then we know the job that Ainec has and the heavy lifting the movements I mean remember what happened in anambra elections transporters at some points wanted to you know disrupt the election because of one thing or the other same thing happened to core members whose parents refuse to sign off for them to be you know at the polls so again if this is a major problem for Ainec and you're saying we can survive what's the who wants to say that you'd not be at the election or polling units waiting for hours and hours for your materials to arrive I think that's a big challenge because most Nigerians don't take the the statement made by the professor Mamudia Cwb as a serious statement knowing the implication of what those things come brings about because if there is no fuel for vehicles to convey materials which are logistics I think we've the previous election the postponement was also cited as a result of logistics issues and I will blame them partly and I won't blame them because it's over a year this election has been captured in the budget and they ought to have planned but based on how the economy is being structured with the crisis we are facing I won't blame them more I won't blame them so much but on the part of the Ainec chairman I believe that by now they should as people who have conducted series of elections it should not be a challenge there should be a way around this how are they supposed to do that they're not in charge of PMS in the country because I listened when he said they are meeting out with the NURT and the NATO to see how they can form an alliance or a synergy to help talking because it's a union talking to the transporters or the drivers to bring in their vehicles on the period to the day of the election to convey within their localities so for them to be able to convey materials maybe from one point to another point and those vehicles should not come from far distance it should be within those but they need fuel to move those vehicles yeah they need fuel so looking at all those things I believe that Ainec on their own part should make appeal if not to the NMPC or to some of the independent marketers to solve this crisis because it will be very sad on the day of we have experienced this before a previous election as they move along the way convey materials some of them get missing they can't account for them or there is a mix up and those becomes problem you find out that some pollinates will not get their materials till noon or afternoon and it delays the process or the process has been mad as the case might be so it becomes a very serious challenge for the electoral empire and the only way they could do this like I've said is meeting the independent marketers or NMPC to have a synergy or partnership to mitigate these issues okay okay I think that Demola Justice has finally joined us Mr Justice um do you see this situation dealt with any time soon because I just finished having a conversation with representatives of the APC and the PDP and there's been an accusation back and forth in fact the APC is accusing itself of you know sabotage citing the same issue of fuel and of course the the Naira nodes but looking at what the situation is right now knowing that for materials to be moved from one place to the other fuel needs to be in those vehicles but my biggest question is who's who's in charge of regulating you know the sale of PMs in this country because it's everybody seems to be very quiet on this particular matter thank you yes I can hear you hello I can hear you go ahead hello I can hear you yeah thank you very much yeah thank you very much I am yeah I am indeed very very glad that you have had a talk with the ruling party and the representatives over this issue like my colleague in the studio was saying my position is the fact that this is a politicized fuel scarcity look at that hello yes I can hear you just go ahead yeah this is a politicized fuel scarcity and there is a grand design or yeah and there is a grand design or there are grand designs to frustrate the conduct the successful conduct of the legends even by the politic itself fuel supplies NNPC imports fuel NNPC is in charge and NNPC direct the decision and say of fuel but not at people like this like I said earlier at the session I said what we are going to in the electoral session of the country's life is a deliberate grand design for the party to fail because like I was asking we used to know PPPRA we used to know DPR and also you can see filling stations I'm sorry I think we're losing you but did you say that this was a grand design for the party to fail for the APC to fail who appointed these people who are heading these departments these agencies the CBN governor the guy who heads the NNPC these are all APC members so why would this be a grand design to make their own ship you know not sail in 2023 Mr Justice can you hear me well I think that we lost that connection I'm going to come back to you very interesting times that we live in but I'll ask the same question who are the regulators because I remember the PPPRA DPR is supposed to make sure that you you know the pump price is stocked to and normally people are fine filling stations are shut down but we see nobody and so I'm asking um who should we be talking to yes everybody's seeing Mr President is the minister of petroleum but there are there's a minister of state for petroleum there is the head of the NNPC and and there's so many other places that we could look to you know exactly do we call on right there's bureaucracy in government you know it might be really there yeah there's an agency that has the responsibility for regulation of the pump price or the distribution but sometimes they always wait for okay an order or a memo from their superior before they carry out their duty how long does this take so I don't really know so it's it's sadden because sometimes the questions we should ask is not who is to regulate the question is we should ask herself is NNPC entirely free or because ever since last year there have been a first casting in Abuja since February which I knew very well of when I was in Abuja then after six months maybe by June July it disappeared later it came back again so you find out that we have had one of the longest first casting under this regime and nobody could explain or tell us what is really happening a few weeks ago if not three weeks ago the DSS had come out with a press release giving petroleum marketers a 48 hour ultimatum to make sure that this fuel and the queues disappear I don't know if 48 hours has expired because we're still at it and again it brings of course the question of who's really in charge here because everybody seems to be coming out with different statements but nobody's really saying anything and where do we go from here in closing yeah the 48 hours like you said my labs I'm not a security agency we're only watching what they are doing the reality is that the president has the financing and the the the NNPC who are in charge of regulating how the PMS products because there's an agency under the NNPC and they are the ones who supervise how this crude go in and come out so the responsibility is left with them we Nigerians ask you just to call the attention of whoever is responsible and who's this person who will be calling because we don't know the highest person we know even if there's a regulatory person within the agency it doesn't ring a bell like I said there's a bureaucracy he still waits to take orders from his superior waiting for a memo to act or so the DSS just made they have made noise but they should come and act they will need an order to they will need an order to back up their threat it leaves the question like what the the previous person said he just a politicized this the first of the first scarcity a politicized one to make the party fail Nigerians are not interested in your party we are interested in good governance if a pc fails today so far we have some we we can get so an alternative to a pc people will be better well I want to say thank you for your coin is a public affairs analyst unfortunatly a Diwaliau Dymol Adjustus was having connection issues but we thank you also for participating in the conversation and let's hope that this all goes away in the next few days yeah thank you all right well that's it on the show tonight I'm Mary Anna Cohn don't forget you can still get your pbc before that window shuts right in your face because that is your passport to a new Nigeria I'm Mary Anna Cohn have a good evening