The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) has disclosed the reasons behind the return of fuel queues in some parts of the country.
Queues resurfaced across filling stations last week, with some persons saying the development was due to plans to increase the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol.
The Group Managing Director of the NNPCL, Mele Kyari, while speaking with State House Correspondents at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Monday, October 9, 2023, said the fuel queues witnessed across some states recently were due to bad roads that had made transporters to divert the product to other routes.
Kyari said: “We have seen in very few states pockets of very low queues. This is not unconnected with the road situation and that’s why we’re seeing some blockades on our roads.
“Moving the products from the southern depots into the northern part of the country takes them much longer time now than it used to be.
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“They have to re-route their trucks around many locations for them to be able to reach their destinations and that created delays and some supply gaps. But, that has been filled and we do not see any of such problems again.
“Secondly, because of the full deregulation that we have in this sector, marketers are now competing amongst themselves.”
The NNPCL boss added that some of the queues were caused by the preference of customers to patronise filling stations that offered low prices.
He said: “You must have noticed that some fuel stations will reduce their prices by N2 or N3. So customers will naturally run to the places where you have that reduction in prices and probably create panic.
“This is because those who don’t know why they are doing it will think that there’s something happening or that there’s an ominous sign of scarcity.”
Kyari further stated that there are over 1.4 billion litres of petrol available for local consumption, adding that there is no cause for alarm.
He, therefore, said contrary to insinuations on social media, the federal government was no longer paying subsidy to any person or group for bringing petroleum products into the country.
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