The Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu has said that he would not yield to call of those asking him to resign, claiming, he still has a lot of work to do in the ministry.
Ibe Kachiwu, who is also the Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, (NNPC) made this assertion while briefing the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Upstream) on the cause of the lingering scarcity of petroleum products across the country and how to end it.
Newspaper reports had published that National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), the South South APC, and some Civil Society Organisations called for the minister’s resignation following his recent unfavorable, ”I am not a magician”, comment reported by some media.
He said: “All those planning to come to Abuja for a protest should save their fuel, I am not going to resign, I have a lot of work to do.’’
Kachikwu noted that he did not accept to be minister of petroleum in order to create scarcity. He assured that he would work hard to find lasting solutions to the problems in the industry.
The minister said that he was pained as much as many Nigerians that the nation still suffer petroleum scarcity in spite of being one of the largest producers of crude oil in the world.
A litre of petrol currently sells for between N150 and N190 in some parts of Lagos, Ogun and Oyo states while its sold as high as N250 in some other states, largely in the north.
