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NNPC Officials

03.03.2022 Featured Filling Stations Hoarding Petrol, but NNPC Blames Nigerians for ‘Panic-Buying’

Published 3rd Mar, 2022

By Joseph Adeiye

Mele Kyari, the Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), has said that Nigerians are “panic-buying” petrol (Premium Motor Spirit) and need to stop in order to allow the supply meet current demands of the product on Tuesday.

On the one hand, Kyari said that the NNPC has enough supply of petrol and explained that Nigerians who are buying more petrol than they require are preventing others from buying with ease.

On the other hand, filling stations are opening late and leaving long queues of cars or kegs for petrol in cities such as Lagos.

READ ALSO: FACT CHECK: Have Nigerians Seen Only One Fuel Scarcity Under Buhari as Femi Adeshina Claimed?

A Tweet showing an extremely long queue in Abuja on Tuesday

The NNPC had withdrawn millions of litres of petrol from Nigeria’s supply chain on February 10 immediately after about 100 million litres of adulterated petrol was imported. Fuel scarcity hit major cities with high demands for petrol and the queues kept growing at petrol stations.

Five days later, the NNPC released a press statement to assure Nigerians that there was enough supply of petrol (over 1 billion litres) after hundreds of litres of petrol were shipped into the country to replace the withdrawn supply of contaminated petrol.

NNPC Press Statement Page 1
NNPC Press Statement Page 2

This official statement, released over two weeks ago, promised immediate and accelerated distribution of petrol from the one-billion-litre stock of the NNPC. The statement also claimed the NNPC would have achieved its 2.3-billion-litre stock of petrol and eased fuel scarcity by the end of February.

On Wednesday, however, Kyari repeated the same promise all over again, saying the immediate “distribution” of petrol to depots and retailers would be accxelerated.

READ ALSO: EXPOSED: Filling Station Attendant Who Charges N1000 to Sell Fuel

“Currently, we have over 1.7 billion litres of PMS in our hands both in marine and on land. This means that we now have the capacity to load out excessively from all depots. We have put in place measures to ensure 24 hours loading in all depots,” he said on Wednesday.

“This will ensure that scarcity created by panic buying will now be freed so that normalcy will return to filling stations.

“Typically in situations like this, people go to the fuel stations and buy in excess of what they need and this is what additional supply will resolve. I am very sure that very soon, we will see the relief on this.”

Williams Akporeha, the National President of Nigeria Union Of Petroleum And Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), also promised that the union would work with the NNPC by ensuring depots do not sell above the mandated petrol pump price.

However, filling stations are still selling petrol as high as ₦200 at unpredictable times of the day, instead of selling at the ₦148.77 fuel pump price mandated by the NNPC. Commercial drivers continue to complain about the unavailability of petrol in the Lagos metropolis.

Scores of cars can still be seen forming queues in many parts of Lagos and Abuja as early as 5am. These cars are often vacated and their drivers wait for hours until retailers are ready to sell petrol sometime between 8am and 12noon. The limited availability of petrol remains a reality in Lagos and Abuja despite the promises and reported efforts of the NNPC.

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Published 3rd Mar, 2022

By Joseph Adeiye

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