BREAKING NEWS, Business
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THE Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has appealed to Nigerians to please remain calm over the difficulties being faced over the current fuel situation. It assured that the government and the NNPC were not taking their patience for granted and urged Nigerians to remain patient because the difficulties being experienced would soon be over.
The corporation gave the assurance in a statement signed by Garba Deen Mohammed, group general manager, group public affairs division, who said that Ibe Kachikwu, minister of state for Petroleum Resources and group managing director, and his team were working round the clock to bring the situation to normal.
“Our immediate concern is to make petrol available through the interventions and processes put in place so that the queues will disappear within the next one to two weeks.
“As at 1600hrs of today, one (1) PMS cargo containing 42 million litres has completely discharged, two (2) more PMS cargos with a combined ‘Remaining on Board’ (ROB) of 44 million litres are currently discharging while another PMS cargo containing 44 million litres is berthed and awaiting discharge. We have enough products lined up to ensure that the supply gap which created the problem is bridged. In order to ensure effective distribution we are working with Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), oil majors and over 1,000 NNPC staff, nationwide to ensure we overcome the obstacles in the distribution of the products.
“While not resorting to excuses we would like reemphasize that this present management of NNPC and indeed the Government inherited huge and complicated problems with respect to importation, distribution and pricing of petroleum products. Nigerians would recall that the sum of N522,258,934,505 meant for payment of fuel subsidy, covering the last quarter of 2014 (October to December) and the entire 2015 was approved by the Senate in December 2015 in order to pay for subsidy arrears inherited by this government.”
For long term solutions, Mohammed said the NNPC and the government were working to put in place machineries to the refineries ensure that they are working optimally and all the pipelines which were damaged had been repaired.
Besides, he said the direct sale direct purchase, DSDP, arrangement for crude would start in the first week of April. He also said that the president had given his support to increase the crude supply to the NNPC to ensure local sufficiency of products would go a long way to solve the problems in the short and long term.
“We wish all Nigerians a happy Easter holiday and assure that while we celebrate the Easter, the NNPC will continue to work hard to bring the fuel scarcity to a speedy end,” the NNPC spokesman said.
— Apr 4, 2016 @ 01:00 GMT
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