ABUJA (Nigeria) – Nigeria has assured its citizens that the current long queues seen at filling stations will disappear by the end of the week.
Nigeria is currently witnessing long queues at filling stations across the country, with some pump stations in northern city of Kaduna and southern city of Lagos selling the commodity as high as N120 (US$0.60) per litre, instead of the official pump price of N87 (US$0.43) per litre.
The situation has also led to appearance of touts who control the selling of the commodity at black markets. On Tuesday in Abuja, touts were selling a litre of petrol at over N200 (US$1.00).
A Group Executive Director in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Aisha Abdulrahman who assured of the disappearance of the queues said, the Corporation now had adequate stock that could last between twenty and thirty days, having addressed the glitch that caused the shortage in supply.
Abdulrahman encouraged filling stations to complement NNPC retail outlets by selling petrol for twenty-four hours in order to clear the fuel queues across the country.
She cited rumours and speculations as reasons for hoarding and panic buying by commuters, affirming that the NNPC had flooded the country with petroleum products.
Fielding questions from journalists, after taking them round filling stations in Abuja, Supervising Minister of Information, Edem Duke criticized opposition political parties for speculations that there was fuel scarcity in the country.
He said all the NNPC depots across the country were wet with fuel, but the queues in the filling stations were because of speculations and panic buying.
He berated the political opposition party for cashing in on the fuel situation to score cheap political point and assured that President Jonathan’s Administration would remain responsive to the welfare and economic well-being of the citizens.
“A good government cannot inflict scarcity on its people. It cannot bite its nose to spite its face, especially at a time when there is political tension.
“There is no government worth its onions that will say rather than focus on strategies to win election, let us deprive the citizenry of adequate supply of petroleum products.
“So when people are sitting in Dubai and issuing statements that are unfounded, I think we as the conscience of the nation should know better,” he stated.
