The Presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar has asserted that Nigerians will not spend the next Christmas on fuel queues if he is elected president in the 2023 polls.
Atiku, in a Christmas message, signed by his Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, stated the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has set a new record for the longest petrol scarcity in the history of the country.
Shaibu recalled that the fuel scarcity started in January 2022 in the aftermath of the importation of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) high in methanol, noting that a probe instituted into the matter did not produce many results.
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According to him, ‘based on estimates from the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, the media reported that NNPC may have spent about N201 billion worth of clean Premium Motor Spirit (petrol), to clean the 170.25 million litres of dirty petrol. Still, no one was sacked for bringing the country to its knees.
‘After a few weeks of respite, the petrol scarcity continued yet again in May as oil marketers complained about the outstanding payment of bridging claims incurred by dealers for the transportation of petroleum products across the country. The NNPC claimed the queues in Abuja and most parts of the north were caused by panic buying.
‘The scarcity stretched into September with the NNPC claiming that the floods in Kogi and other states had prevented truck drivers from coming up north. In November the government again claimed that the petrol scarcity was caused by the road repairs in Lagos and the inability of truck drivers to move products timely.
‘With the fuel scarcity now continuing till December, the government has run out of excuses even as most Nigerians are now at the mercy of black marketers who sell petrol as high as N500 per litre. The NNPC which is the sole importer of petrol has failed to live up to its duties, clear evidence that its privatisation is merely cosmetic.’
He added that it is disheartening that President Muhammadu Buhari, who is the Minister of Petroleum has failed ‘to bring succour to Nigerians who are suffering from the worsening inflation, unemployment, and insecurity.’