From the House of Representatives came the assurances that there would soon be adequate supply of premium motor spirit (PMS) otherwise known as fuel in the polity.
The chairpersons of the House committees on downstream and midstream, Messrs Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere and Hon. Odianosen Henry Okojie gave the assurances at a press conference on Wednesday held at the national Assembly complex, Abuja.
The lawmakers disclosed that petrol products which have since arrived the country adding that the queues being experienced will disappear in matter of days, hence the need to avoid any panic buying as there are product availability.
The lawmakers disclosed that there is availability of petrol products, of about 1.5 billion litres of petrol that can last for 30 days.
The lawmakers acknowledged that the supply and distribution to marketers was disrupted by challenges of transport vessels that was supposed to take the products from offshore to onshore.
Ugochinyere who represents Ideato North South Federal Constituency of Imo State, stated that in the last few days the downstream and midstream committees reached out to the stakeholders in the distribution value chain; the NNPCL, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), and the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) and engaged extensively with them, with a view to ascertaining the cause of the resurgence of the fuel queues across the country.
Ugochinyere remarked that they have gotten the assurances from the regulators in the value chain that these bottlenecks are being cleared.
He also assured that the Committees which oversights activities in the Downstream and Midstream petroleum sectors, have resolved that going forward and in order to avert the reoccurrence of this temporary challenge of distribution disruption, they shall work with the NNPCL, NMDPRA, PETROAN, NARTO and other key stakeholders in the distribution chain, towards finding a sustainable solution in ensuring that they do not run into such avoidable disruption in the near future, which can hamper economic activities.
They noted: “As at today, the reports we are getting suggests that the fuels queues have started disappearing and products have started arriving the petrol stations. We urge Nigerians not to engage in panic buying, nor be enmeshed in unnecessary rush to buy products.
” As a country we have a storage of over 1.5 billion litres which can last us for over 30 days. More products are arriving and more products are on the high sea. The only challenge that caused this disruption was the logistics issue that had to with the marine shuttle vessels, which was to move products to marketers, who are on standby waiting to serve the people.
“The logistics issues have now been resolved. On this note, we want to appreciate our Speaker, Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abass, Ph.D, who has been very concerned in the last few days and have been on top of the situation with our Committees in the course of our interface with the regulators and key stakeholders in the industry.
“We also want to appreciate all stakeholders ranging from the NNPCL, NMDPRA, PETROAN, NARTO and other key stakeholders in the distribution value chain for their patriotic efforts in the last few days geared towards resolving this temporary disruption. We wish all Nigerians and workers, a happy workers day. We assure you that there is no cause for alarm.”
