The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPC), has apologised to Nigerians for the lingering fuel scarcity in the country, which has lasted more than three months.
In a video clip shown on Channels TV, Mele Kyari, the Group Managing Director (GMD) of NNPC, who appealed to Nigerians to exercise patience, however, assured that the fuel scarcity would ease off next week.
Kyari said he could not assure that the queues at the fuel stations would disappear, but maintained that there would be significant improvement in the next week.
His words: “Now within the next one week, I’m not saying that you’re going to have zero queues within the next one week, no, because a number of things are out of our control, and of course, the market forces will determine some of these issues.
“But I believe that we’re going to see substantial and relative ease compared to today in the next one week.
“I apologise for the situation on behalf of all of us in the oil and gas industry.”
Meanwhile, less than 24 hours after directing its members to suspend their operations across the country, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) had called off its strike.
The spokesman of IPMAN in Maiduguri, Borno State, where the suspension notice emanated from, Abdulkadir Mustapha, stated: “Yes, the suspension notice is confirmed as genuine but we have already resolved the issue and directed all the members to start dispensing fuel since an hour ago.”
