- Dr Maikanti Baru, NNPC's GMD has lambasted oil marketers for inflicting pains on Nigerians
- The GMD also revealed that 1,733 trucks left various depots to various destinations nationwide to ease the fuel situation
- He insisted that the NNPC has fuel sufficiency
The group managing director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Dr Maikanti Baru, on Friday, December 29 said “the pains inflicted on Nigerians by marketers during yuletide was callous.”
Baru, who said this to newsmen after a tour of some filling stations in Abuja, added that 1,733 trucks left various depots to various destinations nationwide to ease the fuel situation.
According to him, eight more ships with petroleum products berthed various ports: four in Apapa, two in Oghara and two in Calabar, hence, the queues will vanish by the weekend.
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“We have always said we have fuel sufficiency. We should be comfortable till end of January. Sufficiency is not the question.
“Those who diverted the product should please be mindful of their brothers and sisters. Inflicting pains during yuletide was callous. We have sufficient products.
“Marketers buy the product from our depots at N133.38 and have no reason to sell above N145. This situation is self-inflicted by callous marketers. Why are they inflicting so much suffering?.
“You see what we did to hoarders and profiteers, we dispensed free and that will happen continuously. I urge Nigerians not to co-operate with profiteers, please use your phones and call DPR (the regulators).
“We have stepped up supply volume. 1,733 trucks leave depots daily, as against the normal 700-800 trucks to tackle this situation. This kind of situation will not repeat itself God-willing.”
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Baru, on his sixth day of monitoring, apologised to motorists at every station he stopped and assured them of better days ahead.
He urged station managers to check boots for jerry-cans, extra-fitted tanks for profiteers who queued repeatedly, thereby hindering other motorists, saying they should be handed over to security agents.
NAN also reports that during the six days of monitoring, more than 78,000 litres of petrol was dispensed free to Abuja motorists from various stations that sold more than the cap of N145 per litre.
The fuel queues begun on Dec. 7, following rumours of hike in pump price of petrol.
Meanwhile, NAIJ.com had earlier oil marketers under the aegis of Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPPMA) and Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) have clashed with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) over the current fuel scarcity crisis in the country.
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On Wednesday, December 27, the NNPC attacked the oil marketers over the statement by the association that its members had no petrol in their tanks despite the corporation’s claims of importing millions of litres of petrol.
NAIJ.com reports that the national oil firm also stated that DAPPMA members owed it the sum of N26.7bn for products received from it. NNPC added that the statement credited to the association on the fuel supply situation, especially petrol, was not true.
Fuel scarcity: This is getting too much for us - Nigerians lament - on NAIJ.com TV:
Source: Naija.ng
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Saturday, 30 December 2017