Fuel Scarcity: NNPC Uncovers Five Illegal Stations In Two Days — Maikanti Baru

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) says it has discovered five illegal stations in two days, as parts of efforts to find a lasting solution to the fuel scarcity in Nigeria.

NNPC Group Managing Director, Dr Maikanti Baru, revealed this to reporters on Thursday in Abuja as he continues his unscheduled visits to errant filling stations in the nation’s capital.

“What I want the public to know is that in two days, we are able to identify five illegal stations that have products that obviously have been diverted; because we will not be giving products (to them) under a normal approved procedure of the NNPC,” he said.

Baru is being accompanied on the visits by a combined team of NNPC officials, that of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), and some security operatives.

According to the Corporation, the team uncovered a filling station at Bassa village behind Abuja Airport, with 39,000 litres in its stock, which was selling petrol to motorists at N240 per litre, as against the government approved pump price of N145.

Reaction to the discovery, the NNPC boss said illegal stations operating in the country were also responsible for the fuel crisis in the country.

He said they were relying on diverted products for their supply and warned that the Corporation would ensure that errant filling stations were brought to book.

“They must have gotten this product as diverted and if you divert any truck, you are actually diverting from legal stations,” Baru said.

“Those legal stations are the ones that service the public and in those areas, you will find that as a result of the diversion, there are no products and it aids the supply deficiency; So, it is necessary for us to take them (the illegal stations) out,” he added.

This comes one day after the NNPC assured Nigerians that the issues of long fuel queues and petrol scarcity across the country would disappear by the weekend.

Baru had said on Wednesday that they were winning the war and putting adequate measures in place to ensure the product was easily accessible to the people in all parts of the country.

He had accused some petroleum marketers of diverting trucks conveying products meant for the Federal Capital Territory to some other parts of the country.

The Corporation had also asked Nigerians to remain calm with an assurance that trucks leaving depots are being monitored.