Fuel Scarcity: Senate summons Kachikwu

By Sebastine Obasi, Henry Umoru & Joseph Erunke ABUJA —WORRIED by the unending nationwide fuel scarcity, the Senate, yesterday, summoned the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, to appear before it today. The development came just as senators of the Peoples Democratic Democratic Party, PDP, charged President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately take charge of the country and live up to his campaign promises, which they noted, centred on positive change for the country. 

Kachikwu Kachikwu was summoned by the Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream), after the committee carried out on-the-spot assessment of the crisis in major filling stations within Abuja metropolis. Members of the committee were angry that many filling stations were not selling the product due to alleged lack of supply from the NNPC depot at Suleja, leading to long queues of motorists waiting under the scorching sun for the non-available product. 

The committee’s Acting Chairman, Jibrin Barau, alongside two other members, said the Petroleum Minister must definitely appear before them today to explain what led to the situation and possibly proffer a lasting solution. Barau, who addressed journalists after the assessment of some filling stations, described the situation as not only pathetic but also bad, stressing that it must be urgently arrested. 

He said the development made the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, to call on the committee to swing into action as a way of bailing Nigerians out of the crisis. He said: “This situation is very bad and unacceptable, hence the need for the minister to appear before us tomorrow (today), and unveil his plan of a way out to us. Even if he doesn’t have any plan yet out of the lingering problem, the Senate President and the entire members of the committee are more than ready to rub minds with him for that needed purpose.“ Live up to promise of change, PDP senators tell Buhari On his part, Senate Minority Whip and a member of the committee, Senator Philip Aduda, who said he was speaking for PDP senators, called on the Federal Government to arrest the situation fast by making fuel available to Nigerians, adding that what Nigerians needed was fuel and not blame game. 

He tasked President Muhammadu Buhari to live up to his campaign promises of delivering change to Nigerians. According to him, what Nigerians are passing through at the moment is unacceptable. His words: “The government should look for petrol and ensure that it is given to the people. It is unacceptable, we are Nigerians and it will be bad for us to continue remaining on queues. If the APC leaders like, let them blame themselves, that’s their problem but the most important thing is for us to have fuel in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. “That is what we are looking for and that is what we want. 

We want to see all these queues disappear.’’ Meanwhile, petrol marketers at various stations visited lamented that lack of supply and in adequate supply of petroleum products from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, in recent time , resulted in product scarcity being witnessed across the country. Manager of Oando Filling station, Zone 4, who identified himself as Isa Friday, disclosed that it had been long the station got supply from NNPC depot at Suleja. Also, the manager of Forte Oil , opposite Transcorp Hilton in Maitama District, said only three fuel tankers were being supplied daily now, against the previous five or six. NNPC calls for calm Meanwhile, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, said yesterday it empathized with the difficulties Nigerians were going through due to the current fuel situation and assured that it and the government were not taking their patience for granted. According to the Group General Manager, Public Affairs, Garba Deen Mohammed, Nigerians should continue to be patient because difficulties being experienced as a result of the situation will soon be alleviated. He said: “We would like to assure all Nigerians that the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources/Group Managing Director of NNPC, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, and everybody else associated with this situation are working round the clock to ensure relief is brought to Nigerians. “Our immediate concern is to make petrol available through the interventions and processes put in place so that the queues will disappear within the next one to two weeks. We have enough products lined up to ensure that the supply gap which created the problem is bridged.

 “In order to ensure effective distribution, we are working with Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), oil majors and over 1,000 NNPC staff nationwide to ensure we overcome the obstacles in the distribution of the products. “While not resorting to excuses, we would like to re-emphasize that the present management of NNPC and, indeed, the government inherited huge and complicated problems with respect to importation, distribution and pricing of petroleum products. “Nigerians would recall that N522,258,934,505 meant for payment of fuel subsidy, covering the last quarter of 2014 (October to December) and the entire 2015 was approved by the Senate in December 2015 in order to pay for subsidy arrears inherited by this government. 

“For long term solutions, the NNPC and the government are working to put in place machineries to ensure that our refineries are fixed and working optimally, while the pipelines which have been under attack for some time now are repaired. “The Direct Sale Direct Purchase (DSDP) arrangement for crude would commence in the first week of April and all these, coupled with the fact that the President has given his support to increase the crude supply to NNPC to ensure local sufficiency of products, will go a long way to solve the problems in the short and long term.”