Fuel Scarcity Hits Abuja, NNPC Reacts

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has frowned at the re-emergence of petrol queue across the country, assuring that the situation will normalize in hours.

It was learnt that scarcity of petrol resurfaced in Abuja on Tuesday, as most filling stations between Kubwa and Zuba were not dispensing the product to customers.

Reacting to this development, Mele Kyari, NNPC Group Managing Director told State House correspondents after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari that the sudden re-emergence of the fuel queue was due to strike action embarked upon by the association of petrol tankers drivers.

However, Kyari revealed that following the intervention of the leadership of the NNPC, the strike had been suspended for one week and the tanker drivers had resumed lifting of petroleum products from all fuel depots across the country.

The GMD said: “These queues will go away. It’s because there was industrial action by petroleum tanker drivers against their employers, the National Association of Road Transport Owners, around their compensation package.

“And those issues were not resolved up till yesterday until we intervened to ensure that there’s an amicable settlement between the parties so that they will have peace and then normal loading operations will commence from the depots.

“As I speak to you at this moment, loading has commenced in all depots in the country, dispatch of trucks are ongoing in all the depots in the country and they have called off the strike for a period of one week to enable us intervene and find a solution.

“So, there’s really nothing fundamental that is happening now.”

Speaking further, he said that the petrol queues had nothing to do with the ongoing issue of petroleum subsidy.