…Says NNPC not supplying them with products
The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, (IPMAN), said yesterday that the petrol scarcity currently spreading to more States across the country will take at least two weeks to normalise.
This is even as the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, (NNPCL), insisted yesterday that it has adequate stock of the product.
However, IPMAN’s Public Relations Officer, Chinedu Ukadike, said the product is not available in the country, adding that it has become a bit of a challenge to source the product because most refineries in Europe are undergoing turnaround maintenance.
Ukadike also blamed the acute shortage in supply on importation bottlenecks and the slow pace of marketers’ licence renewal by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, (NMDPRA).
According to him, only 1,050 marketers out of 15,000 have had their licences renewed by NMDPRA.
He said: “The situation is that there is no product. Once there is a lack of supply or inadequate supply, what you will see is scarcity, and queues will emerge at filling stations.
“On the part of NNPCL, which is the sole supplier of petroleum products in Nigeria, they have attributed the challenge to logistics and vessel problems. Once there is a breach in the international supply chain, it will have an impact on domestic supply because we depend on imports. I also have it on good authority that most of the refineries in Europe are undergoing turnaround maintenance, so sourcing petroleum products has become a bit difficult.
“NNPC Group CEO has assured us that there will be improvement in the supply chain because their vessels are arriving. Once that is done, normalcy will return. This is because once the 30-day supply sufficiency is disrupted, it takes two to three months to restore it.
“We expect that by next week or so, NNPC should be able to restore supply and with another week, normalcy should return”.
National President of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), Billy Gillis-Harry, while featuring as a guest on a television programme yesterday, noted that the supply challenge has not been resolved, however, acknowledged the efforts by NNPC to solve the problem.
Reacting to the crisis yesterday, the NNPCL Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Olufemi Soneye, expressed optimism that the long queues will clear in the coming days, adding that NNPCL has adequate stock.
Similarly, the Chief Executive Officer/Executive Secretary, Major Energy Marketers Association of Nigeria, Clement Isong, said: “As the NNPC Ltd said, there were logistics issues but they have been resolved. The marketers who have fuel are working round the clock, and the queues will be cleared in the coming days”.
However, the shortage of petrol witnessed in Nasarawa, Niger, Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, (FCT), last week spread to Lagos, Oyo, Osun and other States, weekend, thus affecting the movement of goods and persons and by extension, the nation’s economy.
