Petrol: NNPC, Oil Marketers Reach Agreement to End Scarcity

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)
Wednesday night said it had reached an agreement
with oil marketers to end scarcity of petrol which has
since resulted in the noticeable queues in major cities
across the country.
The corporation in a statement from its Group General
Manager Public Affairs, Ohi Alegbe, in Abuja stated that
the commitment of oil marketers to support measures
put in place by the federal government to restore
sanity to fuel supply and distribution condition will
within days ensure that the scarcity ends.
It explained that at the end of a strategy session
convened by the Minister of State for Petroleum
Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, to address the fuel
situation, members of the Major Oil Marketers
Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Depot and Petroleum
Products Marketers Association (DAPPMA) and the
Jetty and Petroleum Tank Farm Owners of Nigeria
(JEPTFON), agreed to end the fuel queues as soon as
possible.
Kachikwu was quoted in the statement to have asked
the marketers to set up proactive mechanism to
guarantee unimpeded distribution of petroleum
products across the country.
He also pledged to eliminate all bottlenecks to fast
track the process, adding: “We have gotten DPR, PEF
and PPPRA to be a bit more flexible with the rules to
allow for more movement of trucks and products
massively.”
The statement further said the Executive Secretary of
MOMAN, Femi Olawore, who spoke for the association,
stated that the major stakeholders are willing and
ready to work with the ministry and NNPC to restore
normalcy to the fuel situation.
“For us, there is only one thing that we know how to
do and that is to sell petroleum products in accordance
with the law. It is just a matter of few days before we
get to normalcy,” Olawore said.
He also noted that MOMAN would never do anything is
against prevailing regulations on the supply and
distribution of petroleum products.
Also, Dapo Abiodun who spoke for DAPPMA, pledged
their commitment to work towards the achievement of
the government’s objective of ensuring free flow of
petroleum products across the country.
Equally, the Chairman of JEPTFON, Ifeanyi Uba was
quoted to have pledged the readiness of the petroleum
tank farm owners to support the initiative.
Uba also called for government assistance in clearing
the perennial traffic at the Apapa loading gantries.