The Senate yesterday advised Minister of Petroleum Resources Rilwanu Lukman and the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to tell Nigerians the truth on the current fuel shortage that has almost crippled the economy.

Speaking to Daily Trust on telephone yesterday, Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream) Senator Umar Abubakar Gada (PDP, Sokoto) said the minister must have the courage to tell the people the factors that have led to fuel crisis in the country.

He said "They should tell Nigerians the truth about the situation, whether they have the money to import fuel or not, whether they have fuel in stock or whether it is on the high sea. They should have the courage to say so."

He said the directive by Vice President Goodluck Jonathan that the minister of petroleum and power, should remain behind in Abuja to sort the issues of power failure and petroleum will have no impact saying "What is Dr. Lukman going to do, can he produce fuel in his house or even if it is supervision how many petrol stations can he go in a day? That is not going to solve the problem."

He said the situation in the country is nearing anarchy as fuel dealers now sell the product far above the official price.

Senator Gada said the fuel scarcity has also led to a new form of corruption in the system as dealers now divert fuel and lay claims to bridging cost adding that "What they now do is to bribe officials at the depot and after loading they divert the fuel and tender their waybill for government to pay bridging cost."