If you were expecting to hear a cheering news from the Federal Government on the fuel situation, the Federal Government has something else for you. The minister of state for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, said on Wednesday in Abuja that “complete elimination” of fuel queues in the country would only be possible in the next two months.
The Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, who is also the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mr Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, gave the assurance while fielding questions from State House correspondents after a closed door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari.
Igwe Achese, the National President of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and his Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) counterpart, Comrade Olabode Johnson, attended the meeting.
Kachikwu, said the NNPC would pile up the nation’s reserves with all the petroleum products produced locally.
Responding to questions about the prevalent fuel scarcity he said:
“I think if we do that although I don’t want to put a time frame but I will expect that over the next two months.
“Of course, you are aware the SAP programme begins in April so over the next two months we should see quite frankly a complete elimination of this.
“Our strategy is that whatever is produced in the refineries will not go for sale.
“We are going to keep them in strategic reserve, because the key problem here is that there is no reserve anytime there is gap in supply it goes off.
“So, we are going to dedicate the next couple of months to moving all the products that we produce to strategic reserve so that we can pile up reserves’ position in the nation and that will push up the reserves in the nation.
“Believe me, this is giving me and my time sleepless nights and we are working on it and we are committed to making this go away.
“Nigerians should please bear with us.’’
