FG allays fears over possible fuel scarcity in Lagos

The federal government, through the Department of Petroleum Resources has debunked rumours of a possible fuel scarcityin Lagos State.

Following the failure of petroleum marketers to load at depots for days into the weekend, there had been fears of an impending fuel scarcity.

However, the Operations Controller, DPR Lagos, Wole Akinyosoye, while speaking with newsmen after meeting with the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) in Lagos, assured that government was on top of the situation

“That the petroleum marketers failed to load on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday is no cause for impending fuel scarcity in the country,” he said.

He explained that there was storage of more than two weeks supply, and more vessels were berthing and they were discharging to their depots.

“So the issue of scarcity is really not in the horizon. We reiterated this last December to let people know that scarcity is not in the offing and we are still repeating that every avenue where scarcity could happen has been blocked,” he said.

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“We really want to appreciate all stakeholders in the industry in ensuring uninterrupted supply of petroleum resources since thr begung if the year.”

According to the Chairman of Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Akin Akinrinade, who hinged reasons why marketers could not load for a complete three days on internal issues, hoped for quick intervention for the benefit of the country.

He said, “In the last three days we had issue with our pipeline and also with our generating sets but as a speak we have had Interpol that a new generating set is on the way from Abuja, and it has nothing to do with scarcity and we are confident that as from next week we will have a smooth operation.”

He explained further that, “We at IPMAN now have new executive members and we have come to familiarise with DPR management and part of the issues we seize this meeting to address is also include, the issue of multiple taxation from government agencies which we know that they are just after our money.

“And we have assured government on quick compliance the safety default in our operation outlets in total compliance with the safety regulations as set by DPR for the industry.”