Mele Kyari, the chief executive of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (NNPC) says excessive buying of petrol was causing the persistent scarcity but this will soon ease out with increased supply.

“Typically in situations like this, people go to the fuel stations and buy in excess of what they need and this is what additional supply will resolve. I am very sure that very soon, we will see relief on this,” Mr Kyari said to reporters on Wednesday after a meeting with the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and Petrol Tanker Drivers (PTD).

The NNPC boss announced that the company has commenced loading of trucks at all depots to clear current scarcity experienced across the country.

“This will ensure that scarcity created by panic buying will now be freed so that normalcy will return to filling stations,” he stated.

Mr Kyari added 1.7 billion litres of petrol was currently in stock and available for distribution. He said that this would relieve persistent queues which continued at the nation’s capital and other parts of the country with fewer stations dispensing the product.

“Currently, we have over 1.7 billion litres of PMS in our hands both in marine and on land.

“This means that we now have the capacity to load out excessively from all depots. We have put in place measures to ensure 24 hours loading in all depots.”

Mr Kyari said that neither the Federal Government nor the NNPC had any plan to raise the pump price of petrol.

He urged marketers to ensure that they sell petrol at the price approved by the government.

He noted that following the meeting, the stakeholders had agreed that NNPC should carry out necessary sanctions on any found selling petrol above approved price including the refusal to sell PMS to stations or depots.

He equally noted that it would carry out necessary sanctions allowed by law on any defaulting depot owner to ensure that Nigerians would continue to buy the product at the approved price.

He, however, apologised for the pains Nigerians were experiencing at fuel stations and appealed to consumers to avoid panic buying and to buy only the quantity they needed at fuel outlets. 

Others present at the meeting were the Depot and Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPMAN) and Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN).

(NAN)