Petroleum Products Scarcity in Abakaliki and the Challenges of Enforcing Administrative Law by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC Ebonyi State Command)

Abstract

This study was carried out to appraise the role played by the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC Ebonyi state command) in controlling crime and civil disobedience especially during the petroleum products scarcity in Abakaliki from 12^th to 14^th November, 2014. Public sentiment paradigm and the interest group theoretical perspective were combined to appraise the role played by the corps during the impasse. The interest group theory was adopted for the study, based on its relevance to the working of the NSCDC in Nigeria. The area and population of study were the entire Ebonyi state and its residents that use petroleum products on almost on a daily basis. The sad story is that liberty and freedom to exercise administrative power have often led to administrative vices like impunity, oppression, victimization and so on. This was evident in the hardship suffered by residents of Abakaliki during the misunderstanding between the Ebonyi state command of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps and the Ebonyi State Petroleum Marketers Association. It is therefore needful to put in place strategies such as strategic public opinion boxes for masses to lodge their grievances on the excessive use of administrative laws to provide checks and balances in the administrative setting and to stimulate remedies for those who become victims of executive or administrative high handedness and misrule.

Keywords: Petroleum products, challenges, administrative law, NSCDC.