By Adewole Kehinde
“A little more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed hopeless failure may turn to glorious success.” – Elbert Hubbard
Over the years, Nigeria has always suffered shortages of petroleum products during the festive period, subjecting Nigerians to hardship, which is usually created by greedy oil marketers to maximize profits.
But suddenly, this Christmas came, and Nigerians were no longer sleeping in petrol stations with endless queues lasting for days.
This is almost the fourth Christmas that we have experienced adequate fuel supply without endless queues.
Before now, the scarcity of petroleum products had marred the Christmas and New Year celebrations of Nigerians.
I recall that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited said it had enough supply of petrol to last beyond the festive period.
The Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Ltd., Mele Kyari, gave the assurance when he paid a courtesy visit to the senate president, Godswill Akpabio, at the National Assembly in Abuja on Wednesday, November 22, 2023.
According to Kyari, there is enough petrol in stock, and Nigerians do not need to panic as the company has already made plans to supply petroleum products across the country.
Kyari added that it was important to assure Nigerians that there is an adequate supply of petrol to ensure maximum national security.
I spoke to many motorists on Wednesday and major of them said that President Tinubu and the leadership of the NNPC Limited, led by Kyari, deserve kudos from Nigerians across all walks of life.
Some of the causes of the scarcity include, but are not limited to, failure to pay outstanding money owed to oil marketers, shortfalls in supply, pipeline vandalism, the poor state of the refineries, frequent threats of industrial action by workers’ unions in the oil sector, and a combination of other well-known factors that have floored the government’s effort to ensure adequate fuel supply, especially during festive periods in the past years.
Some of the problems have been dealt with with subsidy removal as the major one; hence, this year, Nigerians have been able to enjoy the yuletide without having to queue for days at filling stations.
With the projected completion of Port Harcourt Refining Company Rehabilitation by 2024, this will further boost domestic supply, and hopefully, before the end of 2024, Nigeria will be an exporter of fuel to other countries.
The entire management and board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited deserve accolades for their adequate fuel supply during this critical holiday season.
Adewole Kehinde is the publisher of Swift Reporters and can be reached at 08166240846. E-mail: kennyadewole@gmail.com
