NMDPRA, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority has come out to solicit with Nigerians not to get involved in panic buying of petrol, saying that there is enough in stock.
The Chief Executive Officer of NMDPRA, Mr. Farouk confirmed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Tuesday.
Mr. Farouk Ahmed came out to say that he checked with the Major Oil Marketers Association (MOMAN) and Nigeria National Petroleum Company Ltd, (NNPC) on the level of fuel stock and confirmed that they had sufficient stock.
He had this to say “I spoke with MOMAN’S Executive Secretary this morning and he told me that there are sufficient stock.
He went ahead to say that he has directed them to begin evacuating the product immediately to various filling stations.
“NNPC has also confirmed sufficiency and they have started evacuation, he added that “From now till tomorrow the situation will be back to normal, furthermore, he said “I don’t know what is happening but we are on-top of the situation.
Mr. Farouk assured that there was actually enough fuel, therefore appealing to members of the public to avoid panic buying as all effort were being put in place to rectify the shortage of fuels in some filling stations in Lagos and its environs.
Mr. Mike Osatuyi, who is the National Operations Controller of the Independent Petroleum Marketers, attributed the lack of fuel to the unsteady supply in the past few days.
Mike told NAN that as a result of the unsteady supply, depots prices had risen from N165 to N177 and N178 per liter in places like Apapa and its environs. He went on to say that “The marketers will only sell what they buy, if the price of petrol increases, we add our transportation cost and some other charges to the selling price”.
He appealed to NNPC and NMDPRA to please supply enough fuel across the country to ease up the scarcity.