According to the Federal Government, its top priority is to make sure that Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) shortages and lines become the norm.
This was revealed on Friday by Chief Timipre Sylva, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, in a press conference with journalists after inspecting a few gas stations in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), including the Conoil and TotalEnergies stations in Central Area.
“Mr President directed that we must ensure that the fuel supply situation is normalised quickly. And that is why I have to ensure that we sort out this problem.
“A lot of things have been done. All hands have been on deck, the NNPC Limited, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), and stakeholders in the supply chain have come together to ensure that the problem is resolved.
“This is not the time for us to apportion blame as the most important thing is that the problem has been resolved and you can see how the queues are no longer there, at least in the FCT we are going around to ensure they have disappeared,” he said.
He stated that the NMDPRA has the authority to impose sanctions on marketers who are selling beyond the price that has been permitted, particularly in other states.
Sylva noted that the issue would be addressed by the authority.
Speaking about the contradicting ex-depot price, he said it was a matter of business details that were under the purview of NNPC Ltd. and that he would see to it that all of those issues were rectified.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), President Muhammadu Buhari recently gave his approval for the formation of a 14-person Steering Committee on Petroleum Products Supply and Distribution Management to address the distribution of petroleum products' interruptions.
The minister announced that the committee, which was also a component of the resolution process, will be established the following week to make sure that everything returns to normal.
“If you look at the fuel situation in Nigeria, it has a lot of ramifications. The importation of petroleum products is a problem because a lot of people cannot access foreign exchange.
“The fuel situation also has nothing to do with politics. Anything, including natural disasters like floods, can trigger fuel distribution hindrances because they are natural factors we are not in control of.
“A lot of the problems that caused fuel scarcity and queues are not within our control there are also all kinds of people who are ready to take advantage of situations and caused problems by seeking for opportunities to make money, hoard and smuggle the product.
“These require the intervention of the security agencies and the recent engagement with them definitely helped,” he said.
He expressed sadness about the situation which had subjected Nigerians to pain and frustration, adding the President, was also pained that the citizens were passing through the hardship.
In the bid to further ensure energy sufficiency, Sylva said the refineries across the country were being rehabilitated and modular refineries were being enabled while the government was doing everything to ensure scarcity did not reoccur again.
“We had to take a 20 per cent stake in Dangote Refinery, these are all efforts by the government to ensure the problem is solved permanently,” he said.
Mr Francis Sule, Manager, Conoil Filling Station, confirmed that the queues had reduced.
Sule added that one of the problems the station encountered was associated with Point of Sale (PoS) machine transactions.
The majority of the motorists also confirmed to NAN that the queues had reduced and appealed to the government to sustain the effort and measures put in place.
NAN reports that the NNPC Limited had also engaged with the oil marketers and security agencies to find ways of addressing the lingering fuel crisis in the country. (NAN)