The Group Managing Director (CMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd. (NNPC), Malam Mele Kyari, has reassured the public of an adequate supply of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) to combat the long queues persisting in filling stations across the country.
In a meeting with the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and Petrol Tanker Drivers (PTD) in Abuja on Wednesday, Kyari gave an optimist assessment about the crisis.
“We like to assure Nigerians that we have an adequate supply of Premium Motor Spirit,” he said during the event.
“Currently, we have over 1.7 billion litres of fuel in our hands both in marine and on land.
“This will ensure that scarcity created by panic buying will now be freed so that normalcy will return to filling stations across the country.”
He also revealed that the regulatory body had begun loading and sending out trucks at all its depositories to tackle the current scarcity.
“This means that we have the capacity to load out excessively from all depots. We have put in place measures to ensure 24hrs loading in all depots.”
He apologised to Nigerians for the difficulties experienced at fuel stations and also appealed to consumers to buy only the quantity they needed at fuel stations.
Last month, the NNPC boss had reiterated the organisation’s commitment to resolving the problem and expressed optimism that the situation will end.
“The situation you’re seeing today, I can assure you by next week, it will vanish. All things being equal, because of distribution issues that we may not have control over, including the movement of trucks, otherwise, we have robust supply arrangement to make sure we exit this situation,” he said as of then.
Despite his reassurances, long queues surfaced in filling stations across the nation, days after it appeared the situation had come under control. There are fears that the lingering scarcity may continue following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Oil vessels from the warring region have stayed longer than expected in the sea.
