Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari, has announced that the current fuel queues around the countries will end between 2 to 3 days, assuring Nigerians that it was not a scarcity problem.
Kyari said this on Thursday in an interview with ARISE NEWS.
Speaking on the fuel queues which have been prevalent across the country, which began on Monday after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu announced the end of subsidy, he said that the queues were a result of the panic of the people, and that there was no cause for alarm, as the queues will clear out between two to three days.
Explaining the reason for the queues, he said, “First of all, I think we’re due to understand why the queues are there in the first instance. First is panic. Panic in the sense, not what we use to know where there is supply gap, because we don’t have a supply gap. Customers will see as soon as the indication was made that we could exit the subsidy regime people rushed to the fuel station ’let me buy the cheap fuel before they change the prices’. This is very typical, when people go into the fuel station they will buy, instead of buying 10,000 naira fuel, they will buy 20/30,000, of course that causes the pressure, it causes the delays in filling the tanks of the cars in the fuel station and naturally you will have queues coming up.
“The second reason is inventory management. Oil marketing companies will know that they have to go back. They know the current market realities, they know that if you just disperse it at that price, you can’t go back to the market. It’s very typical, they will have to have a sense of the price in the market for them to determine what happens. And that’s why many fuel stations, of course except the major marketers and NNPC will continue to sell, despite the very fact that we see the market realities. And ultimately, many fuel stations shut it their fuel stations and even a number of pumps that they are using to dispense fuel to enable them be able to go back to the market.
“So, this is what really caused the queue and of course this will dissipate. I don’t think it’s going to last- probably 2, 3 days it will go because now the realities, the certainty around the pricing environment, and no one is in doubt around the pricing environment, therefore, this will go back.” He also said that due to the fact that there was supply of fuel, it will ensure the dissipation of the queues.
Kyari further went on to say that NNPC will open outlets outside Nigeria in order to encourage trade and end smuggling of petroleum products. He said that the expansion of the market will help to increase trade relations and reduce the amount of smuggling that goes on in the international board.
Ozioma Samuel-Ugwuezi
Follow us on:
