Fuel scarcity: Filling station owners call for distribution network overhaul

LAGOS (Sundiata Post) – Filling station owners under the aegis of the Association of Mega Filling Station Owners of Nigeria (AMFSON), have canvassed for strategic overhauling of the distribution network of petroleum products across the country.

AMFSON said that only strategic overhauling of the distribution network of petroleum products will stem the incessant scarcity of petroleum products across the country.

AMFSON President, Chief Davidson N. Ukatta, in a statement, said the overhaul should as a matter of urgency, include the reduction of dependency on private petroleum farm tanks for the storage of imported products to fuel depots owned and managed by the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.

Ukatta noted that the overdependence on private tanks has over the years proved not to be very effective in product distribution across the country.

He regretted that minor natural disasters end up disrupting logistics for product distribution.

“Government should as a matter of urgency look into the need to revive NNPC fuel depots across the country.

“Pumping fuel into these abandoned depots will ensure that supplies are replenished within short periods, unlike the present situation whereby supplies take longer time as products come all the way from Lagos.

“Government should ensure that each geopolitical zone has a functional fuel depot from where filling stations from the zone will restock their supplies rather than waiting for supplies from Lagos”, the statement said.

The AMFSON President reiterated that his association remains the missing link in the sustainable and efficient distribution of petroleum products across the country.

“AMFSON remains the most reliable platform for the supply and distribution of petroleum products as our members are located in all nooks and crannies of the country”, he added.

Ukatta, therefore, called for a stronger partnership between AMFSON and other critical stakeholders in the Downstream sector to save the public from the dysfunctionality caused by perennial fuel scarcity in the national economy.