Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has increased the daily supply of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) also known as petrol to tackle the increasing fuel scarcity in some Nigerian states.
The NNPC said that it boosted supply from 550 trucks to 1,661 trucks of petrol. Queues started building up in some Nigerian states including the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja on Sunday. Although the retail price of the commodity has not experienced any significant increase, retailers fear that ex-depot prices are about to be increased.
Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, NNPC, Dr. Kennie Obateru, quoted the Managing Director of the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), Mr. Musa Lawan, as saying that there are about two billion litres of PMS in strategic depots across the country to keep the nation well supplied for two months if no drop of fuel was imported in that period.
“We have embarked on a massive load out. Today, we trucked out 1,661 trucks from all depots across the country. Reports reaching us show that they have already started arriving at the filling stations. We believe that this would ease out the queues,” Lawan said.
Lawan disclosed that a 24-hour situation monitoring committee has been set up to track the movements of trucks from the depots to the various filling stations across the country, assuring that the queues will thin out in the next few days. He explained that the disruption in the distribution chain was caused by the strike embarked upon by Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) over compensation.
He assured that with the suspension of the strike upon the intervention of the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mele Kyari and the resumption of loading, coupled with the extension of loading time, normalcy would soon return to the filling stations.
Speaking at the State House after a meeting with the President, Muhammadu Buhari, Kyari, assured that with the resumption of loading, normalcy would soon return to the fuel situation across the country. He said the ex-depot price of petrol would remain the same for the month of May, urging marketers not to engage in arbitrary price increase.
He urged motorists to avoid panic buying in order not to compound the situation.
He called on all relevant stakeholders in the downstream sector to collaborate with the NNPC to ensure a quick return to the zero-fuel queues situation that Nigerians had been enjoying before the unfortunate disruption of the distribution chain.