Uche Usim, Abuja
The National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) has commended the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) for ensuring sufficient supply of petroleum products nationwide despite hiccups associated with the novel coronavirus outbreak.
The youth council gave the commendation in a statement signed by its President, Solomon Adodo, after it monitored the distribution of petroleum products since the commencement of the lockdown.
“We recall that days before the lockdown of some States, a vast number of Nigerians had embarked on a binge of panic buying of petroleum products despite the advice from the NNPC.
“This development necessitated our team to embark on an independent nationwide exercise to monitor the availability and distribution of petroleum products. From results of our field surveys across the country we can boldly say that the panic buying was needless.
“The NNPC has kept to its word in ensuring constant and efficient availability of petroleum products at recommended prices despite the bottlenecks occasioned by the lockdown.
“In times of adversity and challenges as this, the true mettle of leadership is tested and we can boldly attest to the fact that the Group Managing Director of NNPC – Mr. Mele Kyari – has provided the needed leadership in effectively coordinating the stakeholders in the downstream to deliver petroleum products to Nigerians. But for the strategic planning and efforts of the NNPC, Nigerians would have been subjected to compounded hardships in searching for petroleum products with other attendant crisis thrown up.
“We therefore use this medium to reassure all Nigerians that there is no need for panic buying or hoarding of petroleum products on account of the fact that the NNPC has more than sufficient petroleum products in thousands of retail outlets across the country and there are still more products stored up in the depots. The multipronged partnerships NNPC has initiated with the State governments, NUPENG, PTD, etc will ensure continuous flow of products even after the lockdown. Our interactions with Managers of petrol stations revealed that they had sufficient supply to meet any amount of demands by Nigerians.
“The reality on ground tells us beyond words that; We are in a new era of excellence and efficiency. We must therefore avoid panic buying of petroleum products. It is therefore imperative that we give institutions of government such as the NNPC the needed support to do even more”, he explained.