DSS, Fuel Scarcity and Crisis Communication

DSS, Fuel Scarcity and Crisis Communication
By Mahmud Abdulsalam

While crisis management is the overall coordination, including behind the scene engagements, crisis communication focuses on gathering, coordination, and timely dissemination information in tackling a troubling situation.

Though Crisis management and communication are related, their objectives are essentially to protect and defend an organization facing a public challenge to its reputation.

A responsible organisation must, therefore, respond to any untoward situation quickly and effectively to avoid or minimize damage to reputation.

When the curtain is eventually drawn, Nigerians will remember 2022 for many significant and better-forgotten events. It is the year many citizens, especially those with cars, agonizingly battled with fuel scarcity in a manner that was unprecedented.

Since the dawn of the New Year up till this material time, there has never been a single month where citizens heaved a sigh of relief over the availability of Petroleum Motor Spirit, PMS.

From Lagos to Port Harcourt, and Abuja to Kano, among other cities and towns in the country, long queues of vehicles and motorcycles are a common sight. Amid the shortage of PMS supply, the menace of oil theft became rife.

The country lost billions of naira to oil thieves, whose illicit activities are degrading the natural environment of many communities in the South South.

Recalled that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, NNPCL, in the beginning of the year, attributed the scarcity of PMS to the adulteration of imported crude, by fraudulent oil marketers.

However, devasting floods across the country later became the alibi for non-availability of the commodity to motorists and other Nigerians who depend on fuel for their domestic energy, among other uses.

The road to ensuring a steady supply and availability of PMS at fuelling stations in the country is still long.

But it may however not be tortuous and bumpy, if the Department of State Services, DSS, sustains its clampdown on some major oil marketers and fuelling stations, whose shady commercial activities are aggravating the scarcity of petrol, most especially in the mega cities of Lagos and Abuja.

At a briefing in Abuja last Thursday, Dr. Peter Afunanya, spokesperson for the DSS, disclosed that their secret police gave NNPCL and oil marketers a 48-hour ultimatum to make PMS available for Nigerians.

He said failure to comply, the DSS will activate its operations across the country. According to Afunanya, the challenge of fuel scarcity has assumed a dimension that is detrimental to the security of the country.

He said during the meeting, the NNPC agreed that there is enough product that will serve Nigerians during and after the Yuletide season.

Prior to the intervention of the DSS, vehicle owners especially in Lagos and Abuja have had a tough time getting petrol from filling stations. Whilst many outlets are closed, the few ones that are open sell the indispensable commodity for as high as N250 per litre from the uniform price of N169/litre.

The shortage of supply has led to long, grueling snake-like queues at the few open filling stations as motorists and business owners jostle to buy fuel while others resort to black market. The situation has also worsen traffic on major roads as vehicle owners block at least one lane to join queues to filling stations.

But a day after the DSS’ 48-hours ultimatum to all stakeholders in the oil industry to resolve the ongoing fuel scarcity across the country, 23 filling stations in Abuja commenced 24-hours operations.

Some of the fuel stations include the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited Mega Station Zone 1, NNPC Airport Road, Lugbe; AA Rano, Jabi; AA Rano, Utako; AA Rano, Katampe; AYM Shafa, Wuse; AYM Shafa, Katampe; and Shema, among others.

From the above scenario of a reality, one can pointedly state that the DSS has accomplished the three phases of Crisis management: pre-crisis engagements with critical stakeholders; Crisis response with that concise and comprehensive early warning to those involved on the fuel scarcity. Meanwhile, it would be too early to conduct and complete Post-Crisis assessment until probably after the end of the month as we enter the New Yearbl 2023.

Indeed, the DSS is one government cum intelligence agency with a prodigious knowledge of not only identifying social and institutional disputes, but also adept in tackling the crises via effective and deliberate communication strategies.

One of the revolutionary efforts of the Director General of DSS, Alhaji Yusuf Magaji Bichi was the strengthening and empowerment of the Public Relations Department to respond responsibly, proactively and timely on its public communication mandates.

Small wonder, therefore, that DSS spokesperson, Dr. Afunanya, recently bagged the ‘Crisis Communicator of the Year’ award at the ‘2nd Spokespersons Communication Awards’ (SCA) held in Abuja, last month. A thorough-bred image-maker, Afunanya, has deployed persuasive yet engaging communication strategies, on several occasions, to resolve problematic issues between the Nigerian secret police and the general public.

Worthy of mention is the fact that Afunanya holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the Abia State University (ABSU), a Masters degree in English from the University of Uyo, a Masters Degree in Peace and Strategic Studies from the University of Ilorin and a PhD in Security and Strategic Studies from Nassarawa State University, Keffi.

He has attended courses on Innovation and Strategy at Harvard University, together with Security Co-ordination and Management in London, as well as other local and international training programmes.

Afunanya is a member of the Nigerian Institute of Chartered Arbitrators (NiCarb), the National Institute of Public Relations (NIPR); the Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM); the Society for Peace Scholars and Practice (SPSP); the American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS) and the Nigerian Institute for Nigerian Institute for Industrial Security (NIIS).

He is also a member of the Nigerian Red Cross (NRC), a Fellow of the Institute of Corporate Administration (ICA) and a Fellow of the Security Institute (fsi).

The glittering profile and exceptional scholarly intellect of Dr. Afunanya, surely has rubbed off on the DSS, and how the covert intelligence agency, under the stewardship of Mr. Yusuf Magaji Bichi, has been proactive in managing organisational crises and even challenges of national Development, through clear-cut engagement with critical stakeholders.

The recent marching order DSS gave to the NNPCL and other stakeholders in the nation’s oil industry on ending fuel scarcity is still fresh in our memories. And it will for a long time to come remain a perfect reference on how best to harness the power of crisis communication and its tools to address critical issues that affect both the citizens and the country, in general.

Mahmud Abdulsalam
Deputy Editor PRNigeria