Contrary to the claim by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and the Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr Ibe Kachikwu, that scarcity will end in Lagos on Wednesday, marketers have stated that scarcity cannot end in Lagos or any other cities this week.
In a telephone conversation with the Nigerian Tribune on Wednesday, one of the marketers who preferred anonymity argued that scarcity cannot end this week in Lagos or any other cities because the volume available for distribution this is 25,000 metric tonnes.
According to him, “except the NNPC scales up its importation, fuel scarcity may not end soon as claimed by the government.
“The corporation just received another 25000 metric tonnes on Monday which is about 65million litres. The cargo was majorly distributed to major marketers and NIPCO PLC.”
Furthermore, he stated that “although, the government is doing all it could to end scarcity and I can assure Nigerians that if it continues with constant importation of more cargoes, then maybe by next week, all the queues will disappear.”
However, a visit by the Nigerian Tribune to Apapa depot on Wednesday revealed that massive loading of premium motor spirit (PMS) otherwise called petrol was ongoing as all depots visited were loading.
Depots visited include Mobil, Conoil, Forte, MRS, NIPCO and Aiteo.
It may be recalled that Kachikwu told Nigerians that scarcity will persists until May, which resulted into severe criticism from Nigerians including the National Leader of All Progressive Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu.
This has forced the Minister of state to apologise and pledged to end scarcity by April 7, 2016.
(Tribune)
