Mikanti Baru, the group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has called on Nigerians to stop panic buying as he insists that the corporation is doing everything within its reach to address the current scarcity leading the return of long fuel queues nationwide.
Baru had on Tuesday, December 6, 2017 cut short his trip to London where he was billed to receive the Forbes Oil & Gas Man of the Year Award 2017, in a bid to salvage the fuel supply and distribution challenges witnessed in some parts of the country due to panic buying from motorists.
The NNPC boss, who flew back home to attend to what he described as a “matter of urgent national importance’’, maintained that the corporation was doing everything within its reach to address the situation.
He said, “For the umpteenth time, I wish to call on all Nigerians to stop panic buying. We have said times without number that the NNPC has sufficient products to cater for the needs of all consumers.”
Meanwhile, before leaving for London, the GMD had directed that more truckload of petroleum products be dispatched to various parts of the country to cushion the effects of excessive demand caused by panic buying.
The NNPC had earlier informed Nigerians that there was no plan whatsoever to increase the prices of petroleum products both at the ex-depot level and pump price ahead of the forthcoming yuletide.
The agency had in a release said that the ex-depot petrol price of N133.38 per litre and the pump price of N143/N145 per litre have not changed, noting that the corporation has enough stock of fuel to ensure seamless supply and distribution of products across the country during the Christmas period.
Assuring that the corporation has the full commitment of all downstream stakeholders including petroleum marketers and industry unions to cooperate in achieving zero fuel scarcity this season and beyond, the NNPC urged motorists and other users of petroleum products to disregard trending rumours of an impending fuel price hike as reported in some news platforms.
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