The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) says it has increased the daily supply of petrol across the country from 550 trucks to 1,661 trucks.

The NNPC disclosed this in a statement by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Kennie Obateru, in Abuja, on Tuesday.

Mr Obateru stated that the aim was to combat the fuel queues in some parts of the country.

He quoted the Managing Director of the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), Musa Lawan, as saying that there were about two billion litres of petrol in strategic depots across the country.

He added that the supply would serve the country for two months.

“We have embarked on a massive load out. Today, we trucked out 1,661 trucks from all depots across the country.

“Reports reaching us show that they have already started arriving at the filling stations. We believe that this would ease out the queues,” he said.

Mr Lawan disclosed that a 24-hour situation monitoring committee was set up to track the movements of trucks from the depots to the various filling stations across the country.

He pointed out that the queues would thin out in the next few days.

The PPMC boss explained that the disruption in the distribution chain was caused by the strike embarked upon by the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD).

He assured the public that normalcy would soon return to the filling stations with the suspension of the strike.

The NNPC’s intervention on Monday led to the suspension of the strike by the PTD for one week. 

(NAN)