House Of Rep Gives Fresh Update On Fuel Scarcity, Discloses What Will Happen In The Next Two Days

The House of Representatives Committees on Petroleum Resources (Midstream and Downstream) has announced that logistical issues affecting the fuel crisis in Nigeria have been resolved.

The lawmakers explained that logistic issues, including the difficulty of transporting products from the mother vessels to onshore, movement of products with marine shuttle vessels, and disruption in the Escravos channels have all been dealt with.

The committee chairmen, Ikenga Ugochinyere and Hon Henry Odianosen Okojie, announced the development in a briefing with reporters at the National Assembly Complex on Wednesday.

Reading a statement signed by both of them, Ugochinyere assured that in a day or two, petrol would flood the market, ending queues currently being experienced in stations across the country.

He said they had assurances from the distribution value chain regulators that the bottlenecks would be cleared.

The lawmaker said that petroleum products are available based on their investigations.

He added that the country’s storage facilities have at least 1.5 billion liters of petrol that can last 30 days.

The statement reads in part, “From our findings, the issues that necessitated the disruptions which led to the appearance of fuel queues in petrol stations have been cleared. Obviously, it will take a few more days for things to return back to normalcy. Therefore, we call on Nigerians not to panic over this development.

“We have gotten assurances from the regulators and the unions, that these challenges will be cleared in a few days. It will require more time, like two to three days, for products to be distributed to all stations nationwide. As a Committee that is charged with downstream and midstream oversight, we have been monitoring this development.

“Also, in line with our legislative duties of over-sighting the downstream and midstream petroleum sector, we have been in touch with the key stakeholders, the regulatory bodies, and the transport unions, with a view to ensuring that the products get to our people timeously and without further delay.

“At this juncture, we strongly frown at the activities of middlemen who have taken advantage of the short disruption of supply, to maximize profit and generate inordinate gain for themselves, at the detriment of our people.

“We hereby call on security forces to support the NNPCL, NMDPRA, PETROAN, NARTO, and other key stakeholders in the distribution value chain, so as to ensure that such acts of economic sabotage that have to do with hoarding, arbitrary increment in price, products diversion and smuggling are detected and dealt with. Our people have been through a lot in the last few days and we must not plunge them into further pains.

“We appeal to all traders and those rendering services, not to unduly take advantage of this temporary challenge, which will be cleared in the next few days.”