NNPC Reveals What Is Causing Present Fuel Scarcity

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has
blamed the on-going fuel scarcity affecting the Nation on the strike
embarked upon by the National Association of Road Transport Owners
(NARTO) and the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD).
According
to Leadership newspaper, the NNPC made this know in a statement made
available to journalists by its spokesman, Ohi Alegbe.
The NNPC
said it had sufficient stock of petrol at its coastal depots in Port
Harcourt, Warri and Calabar besides the stock it holds in the national
strategic reserves.
It explained that the distribution hitch was
due to the industrial action by NARTO and PTD who have refused to lift
petroleum products from the coastal depots in protest of the huge
amounts they are being owed by the major marketers.


“We
are, however, working towards a speedy resolution of the issues to
ensure a hitch-free distribution of products across the country,” Alegbe said in the statement.
The
Corporation further appealed to NARTO and PTD to call off the strike in
the interest of the country and not unleash unnecessary hardship on
Nigerians.
The development has resulted in the increase of
transport cost within the FCT by as high as 50 per cent in some cases,
even as commuters are left stranded at various bus stops due to the fuel
scarcity.
Extremely long queues could be noticed at the few petrol stations which opened for business in Abuja and Lagos yesterday, with most others claiming to be out of the product.
Meanwhile,
illegal fuel vendors, popularly known as black marketers, have taken
over the sale of the product which has become almost impossible to get
at filling stations. They sell a litre of petrol for as high as N200 and
N220 in some cases. The pump price is N87.