The Chairman of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), Joseph Akinlaja, has appealed to the federal government to do everything within its powers to pay up the arrears owed to independent petroleum product marketers to forestall any fuel crisis.
Akinlaja made the appeal during an oversight visit to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in Abuja on Wednesday.
According to a statement by NNPC spokesman, Ndu Ughamadu, the lawmaker said there was need to support NNPC to sustain petroleum products supply.
He said the corporation was overburdened and “because of that, when it runs into hiccups, somebody will say their operations are opaque. Let’s avoid fuel scarcity by supporting NNPC”.
He commended the corporation for the strategies deployed so far to make petroleum products available to Nigerians throughout the end of year festivities and beyond.
In his presentation to the committee, Group Managing Director of NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, reassured Nigerians of the corporation’s preparedness to ensure zero-scarcity of petroleum products during the upcoming festive season and beyond.
The GMD who was represented by NNPC Chief Operating Officer, Downstream, Mr. Henry Ikem Obih, said that adequate measures have been deployed to avert any form of supply challenge, stressing that even if NNPC were to stop importing fuel as from today, there was enough stock of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) in the country to last for 45 days.
On his part, Managing Director of the Petroleum Products Marketing Company Limited (PPMC), Mr. Umar Ajiya, disclosed that the company has returned to profitability with a trading surplus of N32billion between January and November 2018.
