By Adewole Kehinde
I get disturbed when people tend to paint what is glaring white as black.
For the past eight weeks, I have been following the happenings at the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited concerning Premium Motor Spirit imported into the country and the efforts of the NNPC Management in ensuring Nigerians get an adequate supply of clean Premium Motor Spirit.
When I went through a piece written in the Sun Newspaper, I felt it would be wise to make clarifications.
How can the author of that piece say, and I quote, “Sadly, after long weeks of surviving on limited supply or no Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) at all, Nigerians are yet to enjoy any respite”?
The NNPC Limited distributes about 56 million litres of premium motor spirit per day.
For transparency and accountability, which the GMD of the NNPC Limited is known for, the names of depots and filling stations that got this 56 million of PMS were listed out for Nigerians to take advantage of.
If not for lazy journalism, I wonder how someone could say “after long weeks of surviving on no Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) at all, Nigerians are yet to enjoy any respite.”
The writer, in his or her mischevious mind, further said that “For everyone, it has been an untold hardship since early February when the fuel scarcity situation began to emerge.”
There is no doubt that when the crisis first started, no one knew it would last much longer than anticipated. With the 381.88 million litres of PMS supplied by the NNPC weekly, there is no reason many filling stations should not have fuel.
It will be an economy sabotage for any filling station to sell above the recommended pump price as well as hoard the Premium Motor Spirit.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company must be commended for the 24 hour service that has been the only visible solution in sight to break the jinx.
It is unpatriotic of the writer to have said that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited “regaled frustrated Nigerians with soothing claims of having billions of litres of petrol in stock”.
I have yet to see any publication countering the supply made by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, so i wondered why a writer would publish false information in a national newspaper if not for mischievous reasons.
It is no longer news that the NNPC, in its weekly evacuation report for February 21 to February 26, 2022, said that it distributed 381.88 million litres of petrol nationwide. In fact, according to another report from the NNPC, from February 14 to February 20, the company recorded an average evacuation of 63.65 million litres daily – an increase of 14.6% from a total of 55.5 million litres daily average recorded in the previous week.”
Eighty percent of all evacuations took place at the top 20 high-loading depots, while 20 per cent of evacuations took place at other loading depots. The report said that on the top high-loading depot chart, Pinnacle-Lekki accounted for the highest evacuation at 43.2 million litres; AITEO accounted for 22.4 million litres, while AA Rano also evacuated a total of 22.4 million litres.
It added that Ardova Plc, Sobaz Nigeria Limited, and Mainland accounted for the lowest evacuations at 8.8 million litres, 8.9 million litres, and 8.8 million litres, respectively.
The writer picked holes in the aforementioned figures, doubting the veracity of them, but failed woefully to question all the companies mentioned to have received the supply.
Gone are the days when the media manipulated their readers with unsanctioned news to win the hearts of such people.
Nigerians have confirmed easy access to getting Premium Motor Spirit since the implementation of the 24-hour service by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company.
I am calling on the NNPC to replicate the 24-hour services across Nigeria where fuel supply is limited.
On the alleged trans-border smuggling that has been compounding the scarcity, the NNPC should work closely with security agencies to tackle the matter and safeguard tankers and the drivers who now work round the clock.
This will ensure that scarcity created by panic buying will now be freed, so that normalcy will return to filling stations.
Typically, in situations like this, people go to the filling stations and buy in excess of what they need, and this is what additional supply will resolve. I am very sure that very soon we will see relief from this.
It is on record that the CEO of NNPC Limited has rebutted the viral rumours about using scarcity to prepare Nigerians for a post-subsidy era.
He added that the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN) and the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) were on the same page with the NNPC to sanction defaulting stakeholders.
Kyari stated that the NNPC was further intensifying efforts to resolve the distribution hitches being experienced in some parts of the country due to logistics issues.
“We have engaged depot operators to load products round the clock to accelerate the restoration of normal distribution.”
The GMD also disclosed that he had engaged the services of government security agencies to ensure that all products loaded get to the right destination, and affirmed that sanctions would be melted for any operator selling above the stipulated pump price.
In conclusion, it is high time reporters and editors, not leaving out columnists, contributed to the nation’s building by doing proper and balanced reporting.
Adewole Kehinde is a public affairs analyst based in Abuja. Â He can be reached via 08166240846. Email: kennyadewole@gmail.com
