The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has insisted that oil marketers are responsible for petrol scarcity across the country.
According to the corporation’s Group Managing Director, Maikanti Baru, the petrol scarcity was as a result of the sharp practices of some unscrupulous marketers who were hoarding the product.
Baru was quoted in a statement issued in Abuja on Saturday by the spokesperson for the corporation, Ndu Ughamadu, as saying, “We have maintained our position that this scarcity is caused by marketers. The NNPC has more than 30-day sufficiency of supply of petroleum products, especially PMS and at the current consumption rate of about 28 million litres per day, we should be comfortable until the end of January 2018 even if we don’t import a drop of petrol into this country.”
Baru urged the marketers to stop hoarding or diverting the product, warning that the Department of Petroleum Resources and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps would deal decisively with any marketers who fail to heed the advice.
He added, “We have stepped up the number of truck-outs to 1,733 as a minimum and we have sustained this for a week and there will be more than enough products for motorists in the weeks ahead.”
