Fuel supply improves in Abuja as NNPC increases truck-out from 186 to 240      

The fuel supply and distribution situation has drastically improved in Abuja and its environs as the long fuel queues have virtually eased out following the increase in The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s truck-out from 186 to 240 trucks. Supply is also expected to be sustained though out the week.

The NNPC and the Nigerian Products Marketing Company (NPMC), its downstream subsidiary, said twelve cargoes laden with Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) are currently discharging in Lagos, Calabar and Port Harcourt ports in order to wet the nation with robust supply and distribution of petrol.

This is according to Garba Deen Muhammad, the group general manager, group public affairs division of the NNPC, who stated this after a tour of some filling stations in Abuja and its environs on Tuesday.

Muhammad said that the NNPC, Major Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) and the Independent Petroleum Marketing Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) are all trucking out petrol from their various marine and inland depots to stabilize the situation.

“The NNPC/NPMC is collaborating with the various stakeholders in the hydrocarbon value chain to wet the nation with PMS. This is in line with the resolve and mandate of the minister of state for petroleum resources, Ibe Kachikwu to restore normalcy to the filling stations across the states of the federation,” he posited.

The NNPC spokesman stated that more trucks are also being sent to Nassarawa, Kaduna and Niger States to reduce the demand in Abuja, and that at the moment, twelve other PMS-laden vessels have been lined up to ensure a seamless flow of petrol to all NNPC inland depots and other strategic reserves across the country.

 “We wish to empathise with motorists across the country over the several hours spent on fuel queues in the past few weeks. We also want to reassure them that we are working tirelessly to ensure that fuel supply and distribution return back to normalcy. As the vessels discharge petrol, we will ensure that the products are trucked out immediately to forestall any form of fuel scarcity going forward,” the NNPC Spokesman averred.

He also enjoined motorists to desist from panic buying and warned filling station owners to desist from hoarding.

Muhammad further cautioned taxi drivers against the unscrupulous act of round tripping to service black market operators, vowing that any driver caught in the act would be handed over to law enforcement agents to face the full wrath of the law.