Nigerian Government Apologises to Nigerians for Importing, Selling Dirty Fuel, explains what happened
- The Nigerian government has provided an explanation for why long queues resurfaced in Lagos, Ogun State, and portions of Abuja.
- This comes a few months after NNPC imported fuel and also supply the same to filling stations across the country
- However, it was eventually confirmed that the queues were caused by the finding of dirty-looking fuel at some filling stations, which prompted supply withdrawals
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The Federal Government of Nigeria has issued a statement to explain the current fuel scarcity in various sections of the country.
According to the government, it identified extremely high levels of methanol in one of its public supplies but claimed that it had been withdrawn and separated from other supplies, TheCable reports.
The withdrawals validated a number of consumer complaints at gas stations, and marketers are considering suing the government for compensation.
Source: UGC
The statement published on Tuesday, 8 February 2022, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) added that the supply which included Methanol is in limited quantity.
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Methanol is a regular additive in petrol and is usually blended in an acceptable quantity.
The statement read in part:
“To ensure vehicular and equipment safety, the limited quantity of the impacted product has been isolated and withdrawn from the market, including the loaded trucks in transit
“Our technical team in conjunction with the NNPC Limited and other industry stakeholders, will continue to monitor and ensure quality petroleum products are adequately supplied and distributed nationwide.
“The source supplier has been identified and further commercial and appropriate actions shall be taken by the authority and the NNPC Limited. The NNPC Limited and all oil marketing companies have been directed to sustain sufficient distribution of petrol in all retail outlets nationwide.”
Petrol Marketers react
In reaction, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has called on Nigerians to stop the panic buying and make do with what they have.
The call was made by Abubakar Maigandi the national vice president of IPMAN who promised the availability of new products in the next two days.
According to him, members of his group were supplied with bad products, which put them in serious trouble as they had to repair vehicles of their customers for what was not their fault.
Speaking on AriseTV he stressed that efforts were being made by the government and price agencies to ensure the error that led to the supply of the wrong specification of petrol in some parts of the country was corrected.
“I can assure you that there is effort to clean up the mistake there is no reason for panic buying, new products will be supplied to affected filling stations.”
Seeking compensation
In a separate interview with TVC, South-West Zonal Chairman of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Mr Dele Tajudeen called for compensation from NNPC.
He also alleged that there was a shortage of petrol from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, which was the sole importer of petrol into the country and that fuel station owners are now rejecting the bad product.
He said:
“We need to be compensated but we don’t want to put the masses in another crisis if we resort into going on strike, demanding compensation because we know people are already in a deep economic problem.”
Petroleum minister reveals Buhari's position on removal of petrol subsidy
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that the minister of state for petroleum, Sylva, reacted to reports of President Buhari's plan to remove the subsidy on petrol.
Sylva during this week’s edition of Channels Television’s Newsnight revealed that Buhari is not in support of the removal of subsidy on petrol at this time.
According to him, the complete removal of subsidy is not on the federal government's plate, saying they plan to complete consultations before coming out with a clear policy direction on the matter.
Source: Legit.ng
