As Nigerians groan under the hardship of fuel scarcity which has persisted in recent days after, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu announced yesterday that the crisis over the Prime Motor Spirit will end in few weeks, precisely in April.
This is contrary to an earlier statement credited to the minister in media reports in which he was quoted as saying that the current queues at petrol stations would persist till late May.
The minister who doubles as the group managing director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Cooperation (NNPC) was also quoted to have added that he was not a magician with a magic wand to make the queues disappear overnight.
While hopes of millions of motorists were dashed by the statement allegedly attributed to Kachikwu, there appeared to be a glimpse of hope yesterday when the minister in a fresh move to calm frayed nerves announced that scarcity of petrol will end in few weeks.
The minister who spoke on Friday through a press statement signed by the spokesman of NNPC, Mohammed Garba Deen said measures were in the works to ensure a short and long-term plan to end the scarcity in April,
“The Direct Sale Direct Purchase (DSDP) arrangement for crude would commence in the first week of April and all these coupled with the fact that the President has given his support to increase the crude supply to NNPC to ensure local sufficiency of products will go a long way to solve the problems in the short and long term,” he said.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) called for understanding, saying it is working on long and short term measures to find lasting solutions to the challenge.
The Corporation, in the statement made available to LEADERSHIP Weekend, said it empathised with the difficulties Nigerians were presently going through due to the current fuel situation, even as it assured that government was not taking their patience for granted, saying the situation will soon be alleviated.
While noting that the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Kachikwu is working tirelessly round the clock to ensure relief is brought to Nigerians, the NNPC spokesman said its immediate concern is to make petrol available through the interventions and processes put in place to eliminate the queues within the next one to two weeks.
Garba Deen disclosed that a cargo containing 42 million litres has completely discharged petrol while two more cargos with 44 million litres are currently discharging, adding that another PMS cargo containing 44 million litres is berthed and awaiting discharge.
“We have enough products lined up to ensure that the supply gap which created the problem is bridged. In order to ensure effective distribution we are working with Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), oil majors and over 1,000 NNPC staff, nationwide to ensure we overcome the obstacles in the distribution of the products,” the statement noted.
NNPC added: “While not resorting to excuses we would like reemphasise that this present management of NNPC and indeed the government inherited huge and complicated problems with respect to importation, distribution and pricing of petroleum products.
“Nigerians would recall that the sum of N522 billion meant for payment of fuel subsidy, covering the last quarter of 2014 and the entire 2015 was approved by the Senate in December 2015 in order to pay for subsidy arrears inherited by this government.”
The Corporation further noted that for long term solutions it was working to put in place machineries to ensure that the refineries are fixed and working optimally, while the pipelines which have been under attack for some time now are repaired.
Source: Leadership
