Nigerian govt says can’t end fuel scarcity now
The Minister of
State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, on Wednesday said fuel scarcity may persist
for two more months as oil produced in the refineries would not be sold but
kept in a “strategic reserve”.
Addressing
journalists after leading members of the National Union of Petroleum and
Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff
Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) to meet withPresident Muhammadu Buhari at
the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Mr. Kachikwu said he had no “magic wand” to make
fuel available overnight.
“One of the
trainings I did not receive is that of a magician, but I am working very hard
to ensure some of these issues go away,” said Mr. Kachikwu.
“And let’s be
honest, for the five or six months we have been here, NNPC has moved from a 50
per cent importer of products to basically a 100 per cent importer.
“And the
445,000 barrels that were allocated was to cover between 50 and 55 percent
importation.
“So it is quite
frankly sheer magic that we even have the amount of product at the stations. We
are looking to see how to get foreign exchange input. The president and I
discussed extensively on how to get more crude directed at importation.
“His Excellency
will rather have less crude but have individuals in the society suffer less
with inconveniences than have more crude and have them continue to suffer.
“So over the
next two months, we should see quite frankly a complete elimination of this.
“Our strategy is
that whatever is produced in the refineries will not go for sale, we are going
to keep them in strategic reserve.
“Because the key
problem here is that there is no reserve. Any time there is a gap in
supply, it goes off.
“So we are going
to dedicate the next couple of months to moving all the products that we
produce to strategic reserve so that we can pile up reserves in the nation and
that will push up the reserves in the nation.
“Believe me,
this is giving me and my team sleepless nights and we are working on it and we
are committed to making this go away, Nigerians should please bear with us,”
he told journalists after the meeting.
The meeting with
the president is coming weeks after oil workers in an industrial action shut
down operations of the NNPC for fear of job cuts following an announced
restructuring of the corporation.
Mr. Kachikwu,
who doubles as managing director of NNPC, said this was the first time the
unions were meeting with the president to review some of the concerns in the
oil industry to find solutions.
Some of the
concerns, he said, included the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), fuel scarcity
issue as well as the refineries for which “we are thankful we didn’t sell”.
According to
him, the unions are also worried about the utilization of depots as well as all
kinds of logistic issues that plague the oil industry.
“They are
worried about job loss in the sector arising from the position of majors who
feel that the economy is giving the rough end of the sticks and then try to
whittle down staff.
“And so we are
going to be working with the oil majors to ensure that we do not experience the
kind of job loss that we are hearing has the potential to occur in the
sector,” he added.
The national
presidents of NUPENG and PENGASSAN, Igwe Achese and Olabode Johnson, told
journalists that Mr. Buhari assured the unions that they would continue to be
part of the ongoing restructuring in the sector.
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Credit: Premium Times
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