The management of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has said that it has 30 days stock of petrol for distribution nationwide and cautioned against panic buying by consumers.
The General Manager, Media Relations of the corporation, Omar Ibrahim said this on Monday in Abuja and debunked insinuations that the Federal Government had increased the price of fuel.
He said that the artificial scarcity presently experienced in Abuja and its surroundings might have been instigated by some oil marketers.
“I can tell you that the Federal Government has not increased the price of fuel. This scarcity might have been instigated by these oil marketers who have disagreement with government.
“The NNPC through the PPMC has ample supply to last 30 days to the whole country,” he said.
The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) was on Monday hit by another fuel scarcity, as long queues were noticed in most filling stations in the city.
Two weeks ago, the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Worker (NUPENG) withdrew their services and refused to supply petroleum products to Abuja, to protest Federal Government’s non-payment of outstanding subsidy for fuel imported by oil marketers. This led to a shortage of petroleum products which practically shut-down normal business activities in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
No official explanation has been offered as to the real cause of the latest scarcity, which began to manifest late Monday evening.
The crisis has reportedly fuelled the emergence of the ‘black market’, with 10-litre keg of petrol sold for N3, 000, as against the normal price of N970.
Investigations showed that most of the oil marketers have run out of stock of the product and consequently increased the pump price of the product at their filling stations.
Mr Ibrahim said it was only the NNPC that had been importing fuel into the country since the beginning of the year as the marketers had stopped over their subsidy payment.
He said the NNPC was fast-tracking the process of supply of the product to its various depots in Lagos, Calabar, Warri and Port Harcourt.
He expressed optimism that the situation would soon be resolved so that the marketers could complement imports by NNPC.
