The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, (NNPC) on Saturday insisted that the lingering fuel crisis in the country was instigated by petroleum marketers, but assured that the Corporation has taken adequate measures to address the situation. In a statement issued by the Group Managing Director (GMD) of NNPC, Maikanti Baru, the Corporation claimed that the crisis in the sector was self-inflicted following the sharp practices of some unscrupulous marketers who took to hoarding and diversion of the product.
“We have maintained our position that this scarcity is self-inflicted by marketers. The NNPC has more than 30-day sufficiency of supply of petroleum products, especially PMS and at the current consumption rate of about 27 million to 28 million litres per day, we should be very comfortable until the end of January 2018 even if we don’t import a drop of petrol into this country.”
He accused marketers of diverting and hoarding petroleum products and warned that if those involved in the sabotage fail to stop their activities, the Department of Petroleum Resources and Nigerian Civil Defence Corps would take legal actions against them. He warned against profiteering stressing that the commodity was being sold to marketers at N133.28 per litre apart from their profit margin and a transportation cost of N7.20 per litre.
He disclosed that following several measures adopted in the past days, the Corporation has successfully cleared petrol queues in Abuja and Lagos. He added that the Corporation has also increased the number of truck out to address the situation across the country.
“As far as truck out is concerned, we have more than doubled the number of trucks that are going out into the country. Yesterday, we loaded and distributed products from coastal and strategic inland depots like Jos. We loaded I,733 trucks yesterday and the actual normal number of trucks we required to keep the country wet is about 700 but we have been doing 800 to 850 trucks before the petrol scarcity.
"We have stepped up the number of truck-outs to 1,733 as a minimum and we have sustained this for a week and there will be more than enough products for motorists in the weeks ahead,” he added.
