Sylva
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva has likened the scathing petrol scarcity in the country to an accident that was totally unintended, asking consumers to exercise patience with the Buhari Administration which he said had hitherto worked round the clock to ensure availability of petroleum products at all times and at the right prices.
Speaking at a media briefing yesterday in Abuja, the FCT, the minister, who assured that petroleum products enough to clear the queues “in a matter of days” were available in the country, declared: “This kind of supply disruptions are like accidents; they are not desirable and you don’t expect them to happen but they do happen once in a while. You will agree with me that this administration has done well as far as fuel supply is concerned.
“But accidents do happen and this is one of those accidents that was not foreseen but I am quite happy today to hear from the Group Managing Director and the Authority (Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority) Chief Executive all that they have been doing to ensure that this problem is under control.
“From what they have told me, I believe that in a matter of days, we will see that this problem is totally back to normal. Everybody is putting every effort to ensure that the supply disruption is overcome.”
Earlier, the Group Managing Director of NNPC Limited, Mele Kyari reiterated that the Corporation had enough petrol in stock to end the shortages, saying “we are doing everything possible to bring the situation under control.”
“We have significant product in stock and as at this evening, we have 1.79 billion litres of premium motor spirit on ground and we are continuing the 24-hour loading at the depots and selling at some selected petrol stations,” he said.
