Queues for Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, surfaced in Kano on Monday, as motorists decried the scarcity of PMS at filling stations in the state.
National Vice President, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Abubakar Maigandi, confirmed that petrol scarcity was evident in Kano but stated that the situation was being addressed.
He told our correspondent that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited had assured marketers that it had enough product to keep the country during and beyond the coming festive period.
NNPC also announced on Monday that it had over 1.7 billion litres of petrol in stock and more product was expected to arrive into the country daily over the coming weeks and months.
NNPC had been giving assurances on product availability for weeks now despite the scarcity being witnessed in parts of the country, particularly in the northern states.
On Friday, for instance, queues for petrol resurfaced again in parts of Abuja, as the Federal Government warned depot owners to desist from raising PMS price above the approved rate.
Queues of motorists for petrol had been experienced in parts of Abuja, Nasarawa and Niger last two weeks Sunday, but gradually disappeared the next day.
Retailers of fuel had stated that private depot owners raised the price of petrol from the approved N149/litre price to between N154 and N156/litre, speculating that the pump price of the commodity might be hiked soon.
While the scarcity moved to Kano on Monday, NNPC advised the general public not to engage in panic buying on the grounds that it had enough product.
“The NNPC has over 1.7 billion litres of petrol in stock and more product is expected to arrive into the country daily over the coming weeks and months,” its spokesperson, Garba-Deen Muhammad, said in a statement issued in Abuja.
He added, “It is therefore unnecessary to entertain any fear of scarcity of petrol throughout the festive season and beyond.
“The NNPC is also not aware of any plan by government to cause an increase in the pump price of petroleum. The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority has made that declaration last week.”
Meanwhile, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria has constituted a taskforce committee against acute petroleum scarcity in the country.
In a statement obtained by one of our correspondents on Monday, the Chairman of IPMAN, Kano zone, Bashir Dan-Mallam, said the association had formed the committee, in collaboration with the NNPC to check hoarding of the commodity at filling stations.
According to Dan-Mallam, any marketer found culpable of hoarding the product would be dealt with.
He emphasised that IPMAN would not allow some unscrupulous elements within its fold to inflict hardship on innocent Nigerians.
He disclosed that 210 tankers of petroleum had been loaded with the product for distribution nationwide.
The chairman, therefore, called on the citizens not to panic as the product being supplied would be more than enough for their consumption.
