The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited on Monday commenced offloading 240 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) in a bid to address the escalating petrol scarcity across the nation.
Five vessels carrying the much-needed petrol arrived and were being offloaded into five depots, according to Ayo Cardoso, the South-West Regional Coordinator of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority.
Despite efforts by the NNPC to resolve logistical issues, many filling stations remained closed, leaving Nigerians in Lagos and beyond struggling to secure fuel.
Adding to the dilemma, the NNPC instructed fuel trucks to prioritize servicing the Federal Capital Territory before other regions, potentially exacerbating the scarcity in Lagos and the South-West.
As a consequence, fuel prices surged at filling stations, ranging from N650 to over N1,000 per litre. Exploiting the situation, black marketers capitalized on the scarcity, charging exorbitant rates of over N1,200 per litre.
Speaking with The PUNCH, the NMDPRA regional coordinator said the agency was doing its best to ensure Nigerians were not exploited by filling stations.
“We are doing something about the fuel crisis; very soon it will be over. Vessels are discharging as I am talking to you. What we are concentrating on is to push the NNPC, which is the supplier of last resort, to make sure they wet the entire populace.
“So, we have about five vessels already discharging the product, about 240 million litres are being discharged as I am talking to you right now. We are working round the clock.
“But then, once you have a problem, it takes like one or two weeks to (normalise), but people will keep on panicking, which is not supposed to be. All these kinds of things disrupt the normal way of operations. But with 240 million litres coming in from five vessels discharging to five depots already today, things will get back to normal,” Cardoso assured Nigerians.