NNPC begins 1.4bn fuel litres’ distribution for November

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) yesterday began the distribution of 1.4 billion litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) also know as petrol in stock for this month. The corporation, which made this know in a statement, said the prevailing fuel queues in some major cities across the country have nothing to do with the lack of supply of petroleum products.

The statement signed by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs, Ohi Alegbe, assured Nigerians that it had enough volume of petrol in stock to satisfy the nation’s domestic consumption requirement. The statement quoted the Executive Director, Commercial of the Pipeline and Products Marketing Company (PPMC), Mr. Justine Ezeala, said at a press conference convened to update the public with the current fuel supply situation, that a projected volume of 1.4 billion litres of petrol are available for distribution to fuel stations across the country all through the month of November.

Ezeala said as part of the extra measure in place to tackle the artificially induced queues, PPMC has increased the volume of petrol being trucked out to fuel stations across major cities in the country, adding that most of the 37 NNPC Retail Mega Stations across the country have been directed to commence 24-hour service.

“NNPC Retail has 513 retail outlets all over the country and the strategy is that every one of these stations is designed to have products at all times. In addition, we have decided that most of the mega stations will adopt 24 hours operation model and where for security reasons that cannot be met, we are going to have extended hours of operation in such location starting from 5am and end till about 10pm daily,” he said.

Shedding more light on the operations of the NNPC Retail, Mr. Oladipo Fagbola, said in addition to the commencement of the 24-hour service, the company has opened up some hotlines to enable members of the public provide useful feedback and intelligence on the operations of Mega and affiliate filling stations across the country.

He urged members of the public to provide useful information to assist the Corporation achieve its mandate and responsibility to the fuel consumers. Meanwhile, Ezeala has said 138 trucks were being supplied daily against the 115 to120 trucks that PPMC was doing. He said: “What we are trying to do is to actually find out what is really going on.”

Briefing journalists at the headquarters of the NNPC in Abuja, he disagreed with the reports credited to the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) on the sale of product at the depots. A report credited to the IPMAN stated that some depots were selling above the depot price, which meant that it would be difficult for members to sell the product at the regulated price of N87 at the fuel stations.

Based on this, Ezeala dismissed the report, stressing that IPMAN was factionalised and, therefore, would be difficult to rely on its reports.