From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The Presidency has hinted that as the Federal Government makes effort to clear the long queues occasioned by petrol scarcity brought about as a result of supply of adulterated petrol to country, President Muhammadu Buhari has approved for those responsible to be sanctioned accordingly.
Recall last month, the government had said methanol, a substance that is usually present in petrol, found in the product exceeded Nigeria’s specification, led to the affected fuel being kept off the supply chain, resulting in long fuel queues in the nation’s capital and other cities across the nation.
Oil marketers had reportedly estimated that about 100 million litres of contaminated petrol were imported into country by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, had after briefing President Buhari Tuesday said investigation was already on with the aim of getting to the bottom of the matter.
But a top source who was present at last week’s Federal Executive Council presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, said a plan to end fuel scarcity and ensure a repeat does not happened has been approved.
According to the source who pleaded for anonymity, “The plan is designed to do everything necessary to end the scarcity quickly and hold those responsible for it in the first instance responsible so as to avoid a repeat.”
The source added: “The plan which was presented to FEC last week, had been signed off previously by President Muhammadu Buhari before he left the country last week Sunday with clear goals that included a conclusive determination on the initial cause of the scarcity with attendant consequences imposed.”
The source noted that “indeed under the Buhari administration what used to be an incessant and recurring decimal of fuel scarcity had been reduced to it barest minimum until the recent case of adulterated PMS, an incident that incurred the President’s wrath.
“But the plan drawn up by the NNPC executives had won the endorsement of the President and the praise of the VP especially because of the 24-hour round the clock operations, including 24-hour sales in major supply centers in the country and the 24-hour continous loading at all depots coordinated personally by the Group Managing Director Mr. Mele Kyari himself with the active participation of the Director-General of the DSS, Alhaji Yusuf Bichi.
“The 24-operations also has an enforcement element with monitoring teams to prevent any act of sabotage and ensure smooth operations.
“That 24 hour operation also included the direct participation and support of members of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, MOMAN, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN and private depot owners.”
The source added that the endorsed plan also maintains the high evacuation rate: which is the total amount of stock supplied until such a time that the distribution situation is normalised.
According to the source, “a National Filling Stations Queue Map presented to the Presidency and at FEC indicated that fuel supply had returned to normal in four states of Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, Cross River and the FCT.
“In another 6 States there were very small queues with mostly about ten cars at a time. Those States are Oyo, Osun, Lagos, Imo, Abia and Ebonyi.
“It also indicated that in 13 States there were Medium Queues of maximum 50 cars. Those States are Delta, Rivers, Anambra, Edo, Ekiti, Kogi, Nasarawa, Bauchi, Kano, Ogun, Ondo, Sokoto and Zamfara.
“In the rest of the 14 States, there were still High Queues of above 50 cars at a time in the Filling Stations as at middle of last week.”
According to the source, the most important thing to the Presidency is that “this scarcity is quickly ended and a recurrence firmly avoided in the future. This now seems certainly possible.”