Reps To Probe Causes Of Fuel Scarcity

The House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources, Downstream and midstream have said that there is availability of petrol products which have since arrived the country but the supply and distribution to marketers was disrupted by challenges of transport vessels that was supposed to take the products from offshore to onshore.

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The Committee Chairmen equally revealed that the logistics challenges have since been addressed and product distribution have commenced and the queues will disappear in matter of days, hence the need to avoid any panic buying as there are product availability.

The downstream and midstream committees led by Hon. Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere and Hon. Odianosen Henry Okojie respectively, stated this at a press conference focused on the scarcity and how to provide solutions to same.

Ugochinyere who represents Ideato North South Federal Constituency of Imo State, stated that in the last few days the downstream and midstream committees reached out to the stakeholders in the distribution value chain; the NNPCL, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), and the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) and engaged extensively with them, with a view to ascertaining the cause of the resurgence of the fuel queues across the country.

The lawmakers expressing concerns over the temporary presence of fuel queues in petrol stations across the country which has adversely affected the lives and businesses of Nigerians, However, expressed optimism that normalcy will return in a few days.

According to Ugochinyere, from investigations, they found out that there is availability of petrol products, at least, about 1.5 billion litres of petrol that can last for 30 days.

He noted that it is as a result of logistics that the queues have resurfaced and these logistic issues range from difficulty in transporting products from the mother vessel to the respective petrol stations.

He assured that the lawmakers have gotten the assurances from the regulators in the value chain that these bottlenecks are being cleared.

CULLED FROM PEOPLE’S DAILY