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FG Orders NNPC To Resolve Petrol Scarcity By Weekend

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The Federal Government has on Thursday, directed the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) ensure the issue of petrol scarcity in Abuja and neighbouring states is resolved before the commencement of the 2018 Nigeria International Petroleum Summit.

It also gave assurances that the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources and other relevant agencies were working out strategies to ensure that pump price of petrol remains at N145 per litre despite a landing cost of about N171 per litre.

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The information was disclosed to newsmen by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, at a press conference in Abuja ahead of the Nigeria International Petroleum Summit which begins in the FCT on Sunday.

He said, “As for the fuel queues that you see out there, we are working round the clock; the NNPC is also working round the clock on this. If you remember when it first started in December (2017), it was a lot more massive, but Lagos is largely fuel queue free and a lot of the state capitals are.

“Abuja is still struggling because of some logistics issues. We’ve instructed the NNPC to do whatever it takes to ensure that I do not bring visitors here next week and they will experience fuel queues. They (NNPC) will have to do whatever it takes to get this eliminated in Abuja and that is the directive I’ll be sending to the NNPC.

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“Let them (NNPC) work night and day and put a lot more effort in trying to do this. But I can tell you that behind the scenes, a lot of meetings are taking place. This is because the fuel queue issue is both a logistics and a policy issue.”

“So, we need to work out ways to see what we need to do to continue to sell at N145 per litre. The President is obviously very committed to keeping the price of fuel at the cost where it is. We don’t intend to increase the price again and so we need to work backwards, and this requires a lot of efficiency re-engineering.

“So, give a bit of time, be patient, but I do take your point. I will hate it for my colleagues to come here and see fuel queues happening and so my directive for the NNPC will be whatever it takes, get those queues out of Abuja over the period.”

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The minister also revealed that subject to approval by President Muhammadu Buhari, contracts for the re-kitting of the nation’s oil refineries will be signed before the end of March.