Fuel Scarcity: NNPC injects additional 33million litres of Petrol in Lagos

To ease the discomfort being experienced by motorists and commuters in Lagos and its environs, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) yesterday said it supplied an additional volume of 33 million litres of petrol to the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, (MOMAN) for onward distribution to fuel stations across the metropolis and beyond.

The acting Group General Manager, Public Affairs Division of the corporation, Dr. Omar Farouk Ibrahim, stated in a statement that the extra volume of 25, 000 metric tonnes of fuel, the equivalent of 33 million litres of petrol was supplied to the marketers as part of measures by the corporation to end the artificially-induced scarcity.

"While we intensify our ongoing direct monitoring of fuel stations across Lagos and its environs, we are providing the extra volume of product to eliminate the noticeable queues arising from the induced scarcity," Ibrahim stated.

The NNPC appealed to marketers and members of the public to refrain from hoarding the product and panic buying.

The firm blamed the shortage on petrol dealers hoarding the product in anticipation of a planned hike in the official price of petrol and

Anyone caught profiteering would be prosecuted, he added.

“We do not know where they got their information on price increase from. (The) government has no intention to hike the pump price from 97 naira (58 cents, 42 euro cents) per litre,” he said.

Nigeria is forced to import fuel because of inefficiencies and mismanagement of its oil refineries.