The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has decried what it termed “misinterpretation” of an otherwise benign and sincere assessment of the fuel supply situation in the country made by its Group Managing Director, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu during a brief chat with State House Correspondents at the Presidential Villa yesterday.
Kachikwu was reported to have said, after leading members of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN and National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, to a meeting with President Buhari, that the fuel queues will last till two months.
But in a statement issued shortly after by NNPC’s Group General Manager, Public Affairs Division, Garba Deen Mohammed, the corporation explained that it is doing everything possible to end the noticeable fuel queues in most part of the country in the weeks ahead, noting that Kachikwu, who is also the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, has activated the enablers to ensure sanitization of the fuel supply and distribution matrix.
According to the statement, “The Minister’s candor is in keeping with the regime’s policy to be open and sincere with Nigerians at all times.
For the avoidance of doubt, it is pertinent to state that efforts are in full gear to eliminate all extraneous factors which have so far impeded the free flow of petrol across the country, especially the issue of foreign exchange for oil marketers which the Honorable Minister is working with the Central Bank of Nigeria to resolve.”
While apologizing to Nigerians for the recent hardship in assessing petroleum products, the state oil corporation assured of normalization of the fuel supply and distribution system in the weeks ahead.
Comments