The federal government has maintained that it has enough petrol in the depots to serve the growing demand, amid the growing queue across the nation.
Updating the press, after receiving a briefing from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), Minister of State, Petroleum, Mr. Timipre Sylva, who spoke in Abuja, compared the current situation to an accident.
He stated although not desirable, accidents would happen occasionally, stressing that the situation, although not foreseen, was being tamed.
“I am quite happy from what I have heard from the NNPC GMD and the Chief Executive of the Authority, that things are being brought under control,” the minister said.
He assured that “in a matter of days”, Nigerians will see things going back to normal, explaining that every effort was being made to ensure that the supply disruption was overcome shortly.
According to him, the situation was being taken advantage of by people he described as unscrupulous elements, revealing that there are a lot of states where there are no supply issues.
“Unfortunately, these unscrupulous elements always try to take advantage of the situation. So, I appeal to them that they should try and ensure that they sell fuel because the supply is there. So, why are they hoarding?
“But we have also found a solution to this one, which is to over-flood the market so that no one will be able to hoard the product anymore. So in the next few days, that will happen,” he stated.
In the last couple of weeks Nigerians have had to grapple with long queues across the nation to buy the product after off-spec fuel was brought into the country.
But during the week, the NNPC said it currently has over 1.7 billion litres of the product in stock, enough to meet the country’s demand.
Group Managing Director, NNPC, Mallam Mele Kyari, told journalists that the situation was being made worse by motorists who are buying more than they require.
The NNPC boss noted that loading across the nation is now taking place 24 hours a day, assuring Nigerians that the national oil company had activated several loading points in all the depots.
Kyari emphasised that neither the government nor the NNPC had any plan to adjust the pump price or ex-depot prices of petrol, and therefore called on marketers to sell at the prices approved by government.
