I am not a Magician, Oil Scarcity May Linger Till May – Kachikwu

Minister of state for petroleum resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, has revealed that the lingering fuel scarcity being experienced in all parts of the country may last for the next two months.

He explained that NNPC had moved from a 50 per cent importer of products to basically a 100 per cent importer, adding that the 445 barrels allocated to it was to cover between 50 and 55 percent importation; so, according to him, it quite a huge feat that the country even has the current amount of the product at the stations.

Asked specifically when the queues will disappear, he said, “One of the trainings I did not receive is that of a magician, but I am working very hard to ensure some of these issues go away.

“And let’s be honest, for the five six months we have been here, NNPC has moved from a 50 per cent importer of products to basically a 100 per cent importer. And the 445 barrels that were allocated was to cover between 50 and 55 percent importation. So it is quite frankly sheer magic that we even have the amount of products at the stations.

“We are looking to see how to get foreign exchange input. The president and I discussed extensively on how to get more crude directed at importation. His Excellency will rather have less crude but have individuals in the society suffer less with inconveniences than have more crude and have them continue to suffer.

“So we are going to put a new model to enable us increase the pace and actually get majors as part of the crew of those to bring in more products so that the NNPC will sort of go back on the capacity of what it used to do and the majors will take over the balance of importation.